(Download) "Hansen V. State" by Supreme Court of Wyoming * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Hansen V. State
- Author : Supreme Court of Wyoming
- Release Date : January 18, 1995
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 70 KB
Description
In these consolidated cases, brought to this court in each instance by a petition for a writ of review, Arthur Hansen, Jr. (Hansen) and Derek Redstar Pappan (Pappan) seek to inhibit the discretion of the prosecuting attorney and the discretion of the trial court with respect to the prosecution of young offenders as adults in the district court. At the heart of the controversy is the discretion afforded the district attorney to initiate criminal proceedings against a juvenile in the district court or, alternatively, to seek the transfer to district court of a proceeding commenced as a juvenile delinquency proceeding. Hansen attacks the constitutionality of WYO. STAT. § 14-6-203(f)(iv) (1994) as violative of the equal protection, due process, and separation of powers clauses of the Wyoming and United States Constitutions. In addition, Hansen and Pappan assert their right to due process was violated when the trial court failed to assign the burden of proof and a standard of proof during the hearings on their respective motions to transfer. Pappan also argues that the transfer of jurisdiction in his case from juvenile court to district court was an abuse of discretion, while Hansen asserts that the failure to transfer his case from the district court to the juvenile court was an abuse of discretion. We hold that the statutory scheme is constitutional; there is no demonstrable prejudice arising out of the failure to assign the burden of proof prior to any hearing; and there was no abuse of discretion on the part of the trial judge in refusing to transfer Hansen's case to juvenile court or on the part of the trial judge in transferring Pappan's case to the county court from juvenile court for a preliminary examination with the view that the case would be prosecuted in the district court. The Order (transferring jurisdiction) in Pappan's case is affirmed, and the Order Denying Motion to Transfer to Juvenile Court in Hansen's case likewise is affirmed.