State Briefs

Student pleads not guilty to attempted murder charges

GILLETTE (WNE) — Dale Warner’s voice grew fainter Friday afternoon as the eighth-grader pleaded not guilty to nine counts of attempted first-degree murder in Gillette.

The 14-year-old boy is accused of bringing two guns and 36 bullets to Sage Valley Junior High School with a plan to shoot nine teachers and students identified as people he wanted to target or who were in the classroom where he intended to shoot them Nov. 13.

He was later disarmed by the school principal and arrested by the Gillette Police Department.

Charged as an adult, Warner repeated “not guilty” nine times in his arraignment as District Court Judge Michael N. “Nick” Deegan asked him to plead to each of the nine counts.

Warner wore a lime-green Juvenile Detention Center outfit and was handcuffed throughout the proceeding, including when Deegan asked Warner to raise his right hand as high as he could to take his oath.

Warner smiled at his parents and family sitting in the front row of the courtroom as he was led into it by bailiffs at about 4:15 p.m. Friday.

It took just 15 minutes for Deegan to explain the charges, make sure Warner understood the charges and to ask for his pleas. Deegan said Jefferson Coombs of the Gillette Public Defender’s Office and Diane M. Lozano, the state public defender representing Warner, and Campbell County Attorney Ron Wirthwein and Deputy County Attorney Nathan Henkes will meet with him later in a pre-trial conference. They’ll schedule his trial at that time.

Deegan also continued Warner’s cash-only bond of $275,000.

One dies in accident near Wright

GILLETTE (WNE) — A man from Rock Springs died after a head-on crash on Highway 59 south of Wright on Sunday afternoon. 

Jesse Ray Wagner, 41, died at the scene the crash. The Wyoming Highway Patrol reports he wasn’t wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.

The crash happened at milepost 37 on Highway 59 south of Wright near Bill. It was a two-vehicle accident and Wyoming Highway Patrol officers arrived on the scene around 5 p.m. Sunday, according to the WHP.

Wagner was driving a 2000 Ford Taurus and driving south on the highway when he entered the northbound lane. A driver in the other lane traveling north, 76-year-old William Krieger Neuharth, was driving a 2015 Dodge Ram.

Neuharth saw Wagner come into his lane and attempted to take “evasive action” to avoid Wagner, according to a press release from the Highway Patrol. However, Neuharth couldn’t respond quickly enough and the vehicles collided head on. 

Neuharth was wearing his seat belt but was transported to the Memorial Hospital of Converse County for injuries he sustained in the crash.

Driver fatigue on the part of Wagner is being investigated as a contributing factor, according to the Highway Patrol. 

Wagner is the 21st person to die on Wyoming’s highways in 2019 compared to 11 by this time in 2018, 10 in 2017 and eight in 2016. 

Man arrested after plow hits mystery case pleads not guilty

RAWLINS (WNE) – Facing a multitude of drug charges, which includes possession of marijuana, ecstasy, and hallucinogenic mushrooms, with intent to deliver, an Ohio man pleaded not guilty on Monday in Carbon County District Court.

Cory Aldo Baxter, 36, along with two other suspects, who face similar charges, were caught by authorities on Jan. 31 through a fortuitous string of events.

According to court records, a Wyoming Department of Transportation plow driver was working on U.S. Interstate 80 eastbound near mile marker 252 when he reportedly stuck a black case. Upon closer inspection, the plow driver observed money literally blowing in the air.

It was later discovered by authorities that the contents of the case turned out to be $53,844.

The same day the money was discovered, a WYOT supervisor was contacted by Baxter and his fellow travelers, who inquired about the missing case.

At this point, Baxter was instructed to retrieve the case at the WYDOT facility in Elk Mountain. There, the suspects encountered troopers with the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

During questioning about the validity of the currency, authorities noticed a strong odor of marijuana coming from their vehicle. This warranted a subsequent search, according to court records.

Items seized during the search included six large duffle bags containing 81 plastic bags of suspected marijuana, one large duffle bag containing approximately 259 vials of liquid THC, along with additional vials of THC, two baggies with suspected psilocybin mushrooms, and one vitamin jar with capsules of a light brown substance, including an additional baggie with the same substance, which proved to be MDMA or ‘Ecstasy.”

Legislators don’t give extra dollars to towns

CASPER (WNE) — The legislative session wrapped up last week, and local governments aren’t walking away with the additional direct distribution money that officials were hoping for. 

“Unfortunately, there was no additional direct distribution dollars provided by the Legislature in the supplemental budget,” said Rick Kaysen, executive director for the Wyoming Association of Municipalities. The association advocates for local governments at the state and federal level. 

Direct distribution is a seemingly never-ending issue in Wyoming. The state does not grant cities or towns independent taxing authority, which leaves its municipalities largely dependent on direct distribution funding from the state. 

Given Wyoming’s boom-or-bust economy, local leaders often wonder each state budget cycle how much money they will receive. Direct distribution money tends to wildly fluctuate: The state Legislature has doled out under $100 million in tight times — or as much as $175 million when the economy is strong. 

“It’s very difficult to do long-term planning when there’s uncertainty on whether the dollars will be there or not,” Kaysen has said. 

Last year’s biannual budget included $105 million for direct distribution, but the association was hoping to secure more money this year. 

“We asked for consideration of $25 million to be distributed among the 99 municipalities and 23 counties,” said Kaysen. “But there was no consideration.”

Attempts to give local governments more financial independence were also shot down. 

“There were bills that came forward about local authority and taxation but none of those bills moved forward,” Kaysen said.