The Chief Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court, Michael K. Davis, today entered an Order extending to May 31, 2020 three Orders issued by the Court to implement measures to protect the health of the public and court personnel throughout Wyoming, while still permitting essential functions to proceed in a timely manner.

The Orders:

1) Advise all District and Circuit Courts to suspend in-person proceedings, except in certain specified circumstances where required by law and the constitution. Judges are encouraged to use video or telephone conferencing to the extent possible, all civil trials should be rescheduled, and reasonable attempts should be made to reschedule all criminal trials, “subject to the requirement that defendants be provided speedy trials as required by law.” In addition this order is amended to permit felony sentencing and evidentiary probation revocation proceedings to be conducted via video conferencing, if the defendant consents.

2) Allow for remote administration of oaths and witnesses, verification of guilty pleas, and making most paper filings optional at the discretion of the court clerks.

3) Lift the requirement of filing paper briefs in the Wyoming Supreme Court.

The full order extending, as well as the original orders, can be found on the Court’s website. https://www.courts.state.wy.us/coronavirus-covid-19-updates/.