Man who fled local police officer appeals aggravated assault conviction

A Gillette man whose altercation with a police officer in Crook County led to a high speed chase back across the county border has successfully appealed one of his two convictions of aggravated assault on the basis that the jury was given improper instructions.

The Wyoming Supreme Court released its opinion on the case last week, reversing and vacating one count of aggravated assault for Nathan Jess Michael Schuerman and also finding that the record is unclear as to the state of his second aggravated assault conviction and it should be remanded to District Court for clarification and resentencing.

Schuerman allegedly had a fight with his girlfriend in Moorcroft on April 17, 2020 and 911 was called. A Moorcroft Police Department patrolman attended the scene and encountered Schuerman, who reportedly indicated he had a gun in his pocket, refused to show his hands and managed to flee the scene almost immediately.

Schuerman allegedly led law enforcement on a high speed chase in Campbell County, during which he drove his truck straight at a patrol car occupied by a deputy and only narrowly missed colliding with him. Shortly after, he rolled his truck and was apprehended and a handgun was found in the truck’s glove box.

Schuerman initially pled not guilty by reason of mental illness or deficiency to seven counts, including two of aggravated assault, interference with a peace officer, possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent, aggravated eluding, destruction of property and reckless driving. After a mental health evaluation, he changed his plea to not guilty and exercised his right to a jury trial.

During the trial, the defense objected to the definition given to the jury of “aggravated assault”, which according to state statute is defined as “attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another intentionally, knowingly or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life”.

Schuerman’s attorney argued that “recklessly” is inconsistent with the specific intent required to prove an “attempt” to cause bodily injury, because, in this case, no bodily injury was actually caused; that word was removed from the instruction. However, the court denied the request to remove the word “knowingly”.

The jury found that Schuerman had knowingly attempted to cause serious bodily injury to another. He was also found guilty on all other counts except interference with a peace officer and received a total sentence of up to 31 years of imprisonment.

Schuerman’s appeal against the second aggravated assault conviction, for which he was sentenced to between nine and ten years, accused the court of an abuse of discretion in its jury instruction.

The Wyoming Supreme Court concluded that, because no bodily injury was actually caused, the prosecution was required to prove that a specific intent to do so existed. In other words, that Schuerman acted with specific intent to cause injury to the deputy.

“We cannot conclude that the instruction and the verdict form provided the ‘jury a correct and legally sufficient basis on which to convict’ Mr. Schuerman of attempted battery,” states the opinion.

The conviction has been overturned and, due to the potential impact of this decision on the second aggravated assault charge, it has been remanded to District Court.