Wyoming Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Bohling Appeal

Oral arguments for the conviction appeal in the case of Richard Bohling were presented today to the Wyoming Supreme Court at the University of Wyoming College of Law.

Bohling was charged in December 2014 of four counts of felony larceny, wrongful taking of property, and false swearing in non-judicial or non-administrative proceeding. He was also charged with misdemeanor counts of official misconduct, Wrongful Appropriation of Public Property, and Misuse of Office.

In November 2015, a jury found Bohling guilty of four felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses and one misdemeanor count of official misconduct. Bohling's attorneys filed for an appeal to overturn Bohling's conviction in December of 2015, but the conviction was upheld by Judge John Perry of Gillette.

Bohling was represented by Linda Devine in Thursday's proceedings. Devine opened with a timeline of events in the Bohling case. Devine also cited Rule 29, which allows the overturning of a conviction due to lack of evidence, as a reason to overturn the convictions. She mentioned in her argument that there was not enough evidence of the title of the property being passed, and that the county would have needed to pass ownership.

Wyoming Senior Assistant Attorney General Christyne Martens represented the state. She argued that the convictions of obtaining property by false pretenses should be upheld, saying that the owner of the property (Albany County) consensually parted with the property (the cameras) based on a lie. She also argued that the title on the cameras is voidable, and that there was no reference of passage of title to indicate wrongdoing in cases cited by the defense in briefings. Martens closed her argument by stating that "We cannot ignore 100 years of case law because the wrong crime was charged."

A timeline for the decision has not been announced.