Desmond Triplett’s Motion For New Trial/Mistrial Declaration In Sex Crime Case Denied
A Casper man convicted by a jury of four sex crimes, will not get a new trial, because the court says some of the paperwork didn't get submitted in time.
Natrona County District Court Judge Catherine Wilking said Triplett's public defenders got the paperwork for the new trial/mistrial motion submitted in time, but the clerk didn't submit the paperwork to the judge until after they had received the request for a hearing on the motion, which wasn't until two weeks later.
As a result, Judge Wilking said she had no jurisdiction to rule in the ways that the defense and prosecutors had argued for and against, and denied the motions.
She added that even if this late issue had not come up, she probably would've denied the motion ayway.
In its argument for a new trial/mistrial declaration, Triplett's defense argued that during the trial, the prosecution asked one of Triplett's family members if there had been other accusations of Triplett inappropriately touching other people, to which the question was answered with a yes.
The defense claims this was a prejudical attack on Triplett's character, leaving the jury to speculate on propensity evidence (he did it once, so he probably did it again).
The other claim is that the prosecution committed misconduct leaving the impression that Triplett was hiding information from the jury.
The defense also says there was no physical evidence or DNA against Triplett, plus the lead detective in the case testified that police did nothing to look for and identify the innocence of the accused.
The prosecution countered that once the defense introduced character evidence, the prosecution is allowed to test the validity and credibility of the witness or witnesses, that introduced the character evidence.
However, because of Judge Wilking's finding that the request for a hearing was submitted too late, all arguments for and against the new trial/mistrial motion became irrelevant.
Triplett is being held without bond and is waiting to be sentenced.
As far as his motion for a new trial, he can bring that up again, if he chooses to appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court.