High Court Upholds Killer’s Sentence

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The Wyoming Supreme Court has upheld a life prison sentence for a Sheridan teenager convicted of murder in a home invasion killing.

The court issued a ruling Monday rejecting Wyatt Bear Cloud's claim that his sentence in the August 2009 killing of Sheridan businessman Robert Ernst violated his constitutional rights. Bear Cloud was 16 at the time and is one of three teens sentenced to life prison terms in the killing.

The state Supreme Court also rejected Bear Cloud's argument that he should have been tried as a juvenile. And it rejected his claims that he received inadequate legal advice before pleading and that a district judge later should have allowed him to retract his guilty plea.