Vol. 30, No. 1 #6 (February 2007). An Intern's First Day at the Wyoming Supreme Court.

• Author: By Steven R. Helling

Wyoming Bar Journal

2007.

Vol. 30, No. 1 #6 (February 2007).

An Intern's First Day at the Wyoming Supreme Court

WYOMING LAWYERFebruary 2007/Vol. 30, No. 1An Intern's First Day at the Wyoming Supreme CourtBy Steven R. Helling

My first job out of law school was as a part-time assistant public defender in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Prior to that I was an intern. As an intern, part of my job was to assist convicted criminal defendants in their appeals to the Wyoming Supreme Court. My first case involved a woman who shot her husband and was convicted by a jury of voluntary manslaughter. The defense contended that she had been physically abused and bullied by her husband. In fact, right before the shooting, the husband allegedly held a gun to her head and made her do things that she did not want to do. He was drinking. After he placed the gun on the kitchen table and went to the refrigerator to get another beer, she picked up the gun and emptied it on him. This is my recollection of the underlying facts, although I acknowledge that it is now some 25 years later. I prepared an appeal brief in the case. I subsequently prepared for oral argument. I remember being nervous as I entered the courtroom for oral argument. One of my mentors from the Public Defender's Office, King Tristani, now deceased, sat in the gallery and watched.

I remember just wanting to get through my argument and hoping that it would be uneventful. The primary issue in the case involved the defendant's theory of the case and the instructions given to the jury regarding her contention of self-defense. I think I was only about two minutes into the argument when former Justice John Raper, now deceased, arose from his seat. He leaned over the bench and started shaking his finger at me. He exclaimed, "Are you saying this man deserved to die?" I remember giving a very wishy-washy answer, talking about all of the bad things that this man had done. However, even to this day I remember that I did not say that he deserved to die.

After the argument was concluded, I left the courtroom with mentor, King Tristani, by my side. In the hallway he said to me, "You know, Steve, I think if I had been up there arguing and Justice Raper had come out of his seat and wagged his finger at me and asked me if that man deserved to die, I would have said, 'You bet he did, Judge!'" He went on to tell me what...