DENISE HEILBRUN Star-Tribune correspondent | Posted: Friday, March 9, 2007 12:00 am
WHEATLAND -- A look at court records would make it appear that Platte County has become a land of little or no crime since the beginning of the year.
But some local officials say the dearth of criminal filings is a result of the transition to a new county prosecuting attorney, rather than any letup in criminal activity.
According to Platte County Circuit Court dockets, only four criminal charges have been filed since the first of the year, and 28 cases have been dismissed by the new prosecuting attorney, Mary Eikenberry. The charges were either dismissed as part of plea agreements or simply dropped.
Eikenberry defeated former County Attorney Eric Alden in the Republican primary election last year, 1,644-803. She began serving in the office in January.
Eikenberry wrote in several motions to dismiss charges that the files for certain cases were in disarray when she took over the office and that she was unable to have them ready to go to court. She did not returned repeated phone calls from the Star-Tribune over the past several weeks.
But April Wilson, Alden's former secretary, said that when he left the county attorney's office in December, "all files were up to date and ready to go forward on any case hearing or trial. That was something I took a lot of time to work on to make sure things were ready. They were not in disarray," she said.
The cases Eikenberry has dismissed in Platte County Circuit Court since the beginning of the year include cases where individuals are suspected of driving under the influence, larceny, property destruction, boating under the influence, criminal trespassing, furnishing alcohol to minors, battery, domestic violence, minor in possession of alcohol, possession of a controlled substance and driving while under suspension.
Wheatland Police Chief Randy Chesser said the morale in his office is low because of the dismissed cases. He said he has resorted to running citations through city court instead of Circuit Court when possible, because City Attorney Doug Weaver handles cases in city court. But city court only handles misdemeanors, and there is no capability for jury trials there.
Judges' concerns
In one case in 8th Judicial District Court, a charge of third offense domestic violence/battery against Paulette Maurer, Eikenberry requested dismissal of the charge on the basis of double jeopardy on Jan. 31.
On Feb. 5, District Judge Keith Kautz denied Eikenberry's request, stating: "The purposes of the constitutional protection against double jeopardy are to prevent multiple punishments for a single offense and to protect against repeated trials. Jeopardy does not attach following a guilty plea until there is a judgment of conviction entered. Here no conviction was entered in the citation case, no judgment and sentence ever occurred, and the defendant has no record on that case."
After meeting again on Feb. 15, Kautz signed an order dismissing the case, but wrote in the file that on Jan. 31, "The State did not present any basis for dismissal, but deferred to the Defendant's Counsel. The Court again asked Counsel for specific facts supporting the State's Motion to Dismiss. The State also represented that the prosecutor's file on this case was in such a condition that the State could not proceed."
He also wrote on Feb. 15, "The county attorney represented that because the original citation charged the defendant with assault, and not with battery, the amended charge of battery should be dismissed. The court inquired about the ability of the prosecutor to amend charges, but the county attorney persisted that there is no basis for a battery charge in this case."
The state attorney general's office has taken over a vehicular homicide case for Eikenberry. According to court documents, Eikenberry requested that a plea agreement of a traffic citation and time already served in jail be the settlement of the vehicular homicide charge stemming from an incident that took place on July 4, 2006.
Alden had charged David Lee Kimes on July 6 with vehicular homicide in connection with the crash at Glendo State Park that left a 15-year-old boy dead.
Judge John C. Brooks denied the plea agreement, stating in a court document, "I can understand why this matter was charged as a felony and believe that reducing the charge to a misdemeanor and time served is not appropriate."
Help on the way?
Goshen County Attorney Patrick Korell and Natrona County prosecutor Ed Buchanan have been asked to take over several Platte County cases.
Eikenberry also has asked to hire assistants to help her with her duties.
According to 2006 court records, Alden filed 101 cases in Platte County Circuit Court, and in District Court 30 criminal cases were filed along with 41 juvenile cases, all with no help or assistance.
Platte County commissioners, meanwhile, have decided to let Eikenberry hire two part-time temporary assistants to help her get caught up on the backlog of cases and help her get on track.
"She has requested and received permission to hire a part-time assistant until the end of June," said commission Chairman Joe Reichert, "and also a legal assistant as well to pull her out of whatever the cause is of not getting the work done. It's obvious the work isn't getting done. That's what the commissioners are doing to help her with her learning curve. It is our desire that she succeeds and becomes able to do the work that a county attorney needs to get done."
"We don't know what is causing the lack of production out of her office, but we don't want to have to rely on Patrick Korell or the Natrona County attorney or the attorney general's office to help her do the necessary work," Reichert added. "We hope by that time (June) she will be up to speed. If not, it's a little premature to speculate on what we will do. It will be up to (local judges) to be the first people to notice factually whether or not any county attorney would be incompetent. I just know we are not getting our money's worth out of her, as she isn't even doing the job she was voted in to do."
According to Reichert, the only requirement to file to run for county attorney is that the person must be a member of the Wyoming State Bar.
Eikenberry is scheduled to make $60,405 her first year in office, then receive annual $3,600 raises for the remaining three years.
Reichert said he became concerned when he started hearing about cases being dismissed and even more so when he began wondering whether Eikenberry had handled any major cases since she received her law degree in 1997. As far as he knew, she had not practiced law much in Platte County since moving there two years ago.
Alden, who was Platte County attorney for eight years, said he was concerned that he had never seen Eikenberry in the courthouse for either criminal or juvenile cases before she was voted into office -- or even after the fact. But said he decided to make every attempt to help make the transition easy for her.
"I sent letters to Mary Eikenberry informing her of the upcoming schedule and invited her to my office to review the cases and everything I had done so far," Alden said. "I cleared up as much as I possibly could for her. But she never availed herself to the opportunity to meet with me and review any of the cases."
Alden said he has received several phone calls from frustrated "victims" of cases that have been dismissed in Platte County since January.
"Each and every one of these cases were ready for her to step in and even had some plea agreements agreed upon by both parties, and she decided to not uphold the plea agreement and dismiss the case," Alden said. "Previously I had requested an assistant for many years, as the caseload of work has become heavier, and I was always told, 'No, that it wasn't in the budget.' Now they are going to have to pay out extra for the work I did all by myself."
Circuit Judges Kautz and John Brooks wrote to the county commissioners last month that it was their opinion that the workload shouldered by Alden warranted the hiring of a part-time deputy county attorney. However, "Mr. Alden was somehow able to handle all functions of county attorney by himself. That included all misdemeanors, felonies, and juvenile matters, as well as representing the county and commissioners regarding civil matters."
Seeking justice
Platte County Clerk Jean Dixon said more than a half dozen people have come in asking who to talk to about their concerns about Eikenberry. Dixon said she told them after the county commissioners, the next step would be the attorney general's office.
Among those concerned about the county attorney's performance is Brenda Foster, owner of Wheatco, a business in Wheatland. She said her business was broken into the end of January but no charges have been filed against the person who burglarized her store.
When she asked police officers what was going on with her case, they told her that their hands were tied and that the county attorney was too busy to deal with it, she said.
"He left his DNA here, and they told me they know exactly who it is," Foster said. "He left his gloves and his hat. She (Mary Eikenberry) or her office has never even contacted me. I have never even met her."
The burglar broke out the front glass door and the window to her office, which he ransacked, and then stole the business's checkbook, cash from the drawer and a roll of stamps, Foster said. She had to put a stop on all the checks to make sure none were cashed.
Foster, who is originally from south Florida, recently bought the business and just opened the first of January. She said normally puts everything in the safe in the evening, but forgot and had left the checkbook out that night, she said.
"It's extremely frustrating," Foster said. "I wasn't out a tremendous amount of money, but the fact that the business was broken into, ransacked and my stuff gone through is not the way I envisioned my first month of business to go. And then nothing -- no charges -- are filed.
"If she's overwhelmed with her job, she either needs help, or she shouldn't have taken the job," Foster said. "I know I get overwhelmed, but I don't let it affect my customers."