Wyoming News Briefs

After Gordon certifies trigger bill, abortion will be banned in Wyo. Wednesday

JACKSON (WNE) — Abortion will be banned in Wyoming, with narrow exceptions, starting Wednesday, July 27.

Gov. Mark Gordon certified Friday the state’s “trigger bill,” which was passed during the 2022 budget session and intended to go into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade. The Supreme Court overturned the 49-year-old precedent on June 24, prompting Wyoming Attorney General Bridget Hill to review the Wyoming law.

Hill said Thursday that the measure was “fully authorized” and said her office “stands ready to defend it.”

Gordon’s Friday certification started a five-day countdown until abortion is banned in the state.

“I believe that the decision to regulate abortion is properly left to the states,” Gordon said in a prepared statement. “As a pro-life governor, my focus will continue to be on ensuring we are doing all we can to support Wyoming mothers, children and families.”

There are some exemptions to Wyoming’s soon-to-be-enacted abortion ban, according to the text of the bill: rape, incest and “to preserve the woman from a serious risk of death or of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, not including any psychological or emotional conditions.”

Those who violate the new law may face a felony charge punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

“Trying to figure out how to navigate the law absolutely destroys your ability to make an evidence-based healthcare decision that is in the patient’s best interest,” said Dr. Giovannina Anthony, a Jackson OB-GYN.

Campbell County man pleads guilty to voyeurism

GILLETTE (WNE) – The 33-year-old Campbell County man accused of setting up a recording device in a bathroom and taking pictures of a female getting in and out of the shower and bathtub has pleaded guilty to voyeurism.

Brandon R. Hartwell gave his plea and was found guilty June 29. Eight other voyeurism counts, all felonies, were dismissed, according to court documents.

A plea agreement Hartwell entered recommends a suspended eight- to ten-year sentence with a 180-day split-sentence to be served in jail and four years of supervised probation, in exchange for his guilty plea.

The Sheriff’s Office began investigating the case in December after a company phone that Hartwell had been using was turned over to a new employee, who found photos of a naked female in the deleted photos file.

Based on the content of the photo, investigators got a search warrant for a home and found a camera that had been wired into the outlet in a bathroom. Those living in the home were unaware of the hidden camera, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.

The camera connected wirelessly to a mobile device and was motion activated, according to the affidavit.

Hartwell told investigators that he had bought the outlet camera to use in his shop, but once he learned how to operate it, he moved it to a bathroom. He told investigators that he occasionally would review the videos using his work cell phone and save certain ones on his phone. He would send the photos to his personal cell phone from his work cell phone, he said, but told investigators that he had lost his personal phone the night before.

When Hartwell was fired from his job, he deleted the photos but didn’t know that they would be moved into a temporary deletion file.

Converse County wildfire mostly contained

CASPER (WNE) — A 3200-acre wildfire 25 miles northeast of Casper has been 80% contained as of Friday morning, an official said. 

The fire, dubbed Sand Springs, began around noon Wednesday. Hot temperatures and high winds quickly spread the blaze to around 2500 acres by the end of the first day and 3,190 acres by its second. 

There is no danger to people or buildings in the area, said Carmen Thomason of the Bureau of Land Management. No road closures or evacuations have been needed. 

An investigator found the blaze began because of a vehicle fire in the grass, a statement from Converse County Emergency Management said Thursday. Crews trying to reach the fire on the ground ran into trouble with the sandy terrain, which is far from any roads. 

Multiple planes and helicopters were also used to help contain the spread. Firefighters from BLM, Converse County, Glenrock and state agencies have been on scene. 

The fire spans land owned by the county, BLM and others. 

Thomason said they’re still working to determine all the land owners in the area. 

BLM land in Converse County has been under Stage 1 fire restrictions since last week, meaning open fires and smoking in many places are prohibited. The June 13 order putting the restrictions in place notes dry conditions and high fire danger in the county.

Yellowstone visitation was down 43% in June, compared to 2021’s record year, due to historic flooding

CODY (WNE) — Yellowstone National Park visitation was far lower than in recent years for June, largely because for ten days all gates were closed and for most of the month visitation was restricted due to the historic flooding.

The park hosted 536,601 recreation visits in June. This is a 43% decrease from June 2021 (938,845 recreation visits), which was the most-visited June on record, according to a park release.

On June 13, all entrances to the park closed as flooding on the northern section of the park wiped out whole sections of the North and Northeast entrance roads and damaged large amounts of infrastructure. All park visitors were evacuated over the next 24 hours. 

On June 22, the East, South and West entrances to the park reopened on a limited entry basis. Portions of the park remained closed through the remainder of June, including the North and Northeast entrances.

In July, most of the north loop was reopened. 

So far in 2022, the park has hosted 1,268,053 recreation visits, down 20% from 2021.

That’s still far above two years ago, when Yellowstone, like all national parks, was closed until May 18 and thereafter many services were limited due to the Covid pandemic. In 2020 only 719,054 people had visited through June. 

Habitual criminal enhancements added for man charged with felony interference

GILLETTE (WNE) — A 31-year-old man charged for resisting arrest against multiple Gillette police officers had habitual criminal enhancements added to his charges. If the enhancements stick and if he’s convicted, he could face life in prison.

William Hamilton was charged July 20 in Circuit Court with five counts of interference with a peace officer and felony possession of meth, stemming from the incident in which he allegedly fought back against officers multiple times, breaking one officer’s hand and kicking two other officers.

Hamilton has been convicted of multiple felonies in Wyoming, causing the habitual criminal sentencing enhancement to be added to each of the five interference charges.

In 2012, he was convicted of simple robbery in Park County. Later that year, he was convicted of driving while under the influence causing serious bodily injury in Weston County. In 2018, he was convicted of aggravated assault and battery in Campbell County and in 2021, he was convicted of felony fleeing or attempting to elude in Crook County, according to court documents.

A habitual criminal enhancement is added when someone is charged with a violent felony and has had two previous and separate felony convictions. It increases sentencing requirements to 10 to 50 years in prison if the person has two previous convictions. If the person has three or more convictions — which Hamilton does — the sentence becomes life in prison.