James Emerson’s Appeal For Aggravated Assault Conviction Denied By WY Supreme Court

Wyoming's Highest Court agrees that a Casper man serving time behind bars for assaulting his nephew and acknowledging his prior criminal past, should not get a new trial.

James Emerson had filed a motion for a new trial, because two people had come forward claiming they had overheard the victim, conspiring with other witnesses before the trial, to make sure everyone testifying against Emerson, told the same story.

They said they were not present on the night of the assault, back in March 2014, but claimed to have overheard the conversation, however one said he couldn't remember everything that he heard, and the other acknowledged to being a liar in the past.

They added that on the night they overheard the conversation, they had also used meth.

Prosecutors called the credibility of the new statements into question, for those reasons.

Natrona County District Court Judge Daniel Forgey said because of those concerns, he did not feel that if the new testimony was introduced, that it would change the jury's verdict, thus he denied the new trial.

Emerson appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court, however the Court sided with Judge Forgey's initial ruling, adding that none of the witnesses in the attack agreed to give untruthful testimony.

Emerson is currently serving 15-to-25 years in prison.