From the Bench

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal
• Citation: Vol. 38 No. 3 Pg. 10
• Publication year: 2015
• Pages: 10
• Year: 2015
• topic: Civil Procedure

From the Bench Vol. 38 No. 3 Pg. 10 Wyoming Bar Journal June, 2015

Hon. Steven K. Sharpe District Court Judge First Judicial District.

Facts win cases, not lawyers. Here’s proof.

Most trial lawyers I know love to tell war stories. If given half a chance, they can regale you with tales of their first significant jury trial or a funny or embarrassing courtroom moment. For me, my most embarrassing courtroom experience just happened to come in the middle of my first major jury trial. And while the event happened almost 30 years ago, the passage of time has done little to erase that ignominious moment from my memory. While certainly embarrassing, the experience taught me a fundamental truth about trying cases. Here’s my story.

My first “real job” out of law school was working as a prosecutor at the district attorney’s office in Fort Collins, Colorado. I was all of 26 years old at the time and brimming with a false sense of confidence. What I lacked in experience, I hoped to compensate for with my alacrity and a willingness to take any case that would get me into court. At that time, the typical practice at the district attorney’s office was to start all “newbie” prosecutors in county court trying misdemeanor cases. But after six months of doing DUIs, bar fights, and assaults, I was chomping at the bit to take on something a little different.

My big opportunity finally arrived one day when our first assistant district attorney walked into my office and handed me a felony case to prosecute. It was a sexual assault case and...