Sweetwater County’s top prosecutor was at his office on a Thursday nearly three years ago when police called him to a bar where two women lay dead.
A man had shot the women at the bar in Green River, Wyoming, then fled to Rock Springs where he had a standoff with law enforcement that ended with his suicide.
Sweetwater County Attorney Dan Erramouspe went to the scene once it was secured – which he does typically with homicides – just to have a good look at it.
“(The scene) has to stay in my head until it goes to trial,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Friday. “These things are a lot easier to talk about when you experience the scene.”
The scene may seem startling, but it’s common enough for Erramouspe, and nothing compared to what law enforcement agents endured that day, he said.
Episodes like these are just one part of what prosecutors in Wyoming do. They run criminal cases, address expungement, handle juvenile delinquency and probation issues to name a few of their duties.
And they’re doing it with too few employees, many of the state’s prosecutors say.
Erramouspe is down two positions after recently filling one. Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen is down one and will lose another in April. Fremont County Attorney Patrick LeBrun just filled a prosecutor position but remains one staffer short.
Shortages are a problem statewide, Tucker Ruby, Wyoming County and Prosecuting Attorney Association President, told Cowboy State Daily on Friday.
The issue’s gotten so nagging, Erramouspe is scheduled to attend a prosecutors’ job fair in Washington, D.C., next month to tout job openings across Wyoming offices.
Then there’s the other side of the coin. In a statewide shortage of government-hired attorneys, there’s also a public defender shortage across the state. It’s grown acute in northeast Wyoming, and judges are poised to appoint private attorneys to public cases if the issue doesn’t improve.
Hey Lawmakers
Ruby offered some strategies for how Wyoming’s elected legislators can help.
Whether public defender or prosecutor, government attorneys tend to make less money than those in the private sector. The main solution Ruby offered, however, isn’t a simple pay increase from the Wyoming Legislature, but earlier access to retirement.
Law enforcement agents in the state can retire after 20 years on the job.
County and district attorneys have to reach the “85 rule” to access their retirements: the point at which their years of service and age add up to 85.
Switching them over to the 20-year rule could make the job more tempting for lawyers, Ruby said. And it’s fitting, he continued: the elected county or district attorney in each part of Wyoming is considered the top law enforcement official in that jurisdiction.
That’s not to undermine the trauma police officers endure, he said.
“We by no means experience the same kind of dangers they do,” said Ruby. “We do get to have some of the trauma, (but) I don’t have to go out in the middle of the night worried someone might shoot me.”
And, Ruby theorized, prosecutors who do make it through those two decades will only be able to do so if they truly care about the job and the communities they serve.
Erramouspe said more money for salaries is a good idea. Itzen, who touted the retirement idea as well, agreed.
“More money always attracts applicants,” Erramouspe said. He also addressed a statutory pay cap for elected prosecutors, of $145,000. Some deputy prosecutors make more money than their bosses under that system, he noted.
“We don’t do this for the money and we will never compete with the private sector, nor should we,” he said. “But communities need fully staffed prosecutor and public defender offices. Money and benefits are basic enticements. Retaining the lawyers afterwards is another issue.”
Still, said Erramouspe, the applicants he wants to hire most are those who care most about the job.
Qualified Applicants
The problem isn’t just a staff shortage, but a shortage of qualified applicants, which leaves openings unfilled longer, Laramie County District Attorney Sylvia Hackl told Cowboy State Daily.
Natrona County Attorney Dan Itzen agreed. His office has been dealing with shortages since at least 2018, he said.
“I think a lot of it is the work we do. It’s the pay… the nature of the cases, the case load,” said Itzen. His jurisdiction handles around 3,500 cases a year.
“And we do that with nine attorneys plus me,” said Itzen. As a district attorney, his staff makeup is set by the state, and he’s not seen a new position added in 20 years, he said.
A Little Help
Ruby offered another strategy to attract qualified applicants: hiring a prosecution coordinator. That’s a person who articulates state prosecutors’ needs to lawmakers as they arise, and who can recruit lawyers.
“We’re the only state in the nation that does not have (one),” said Ruby. That’s a difficulty, since the state’s cities are separated by long and often slick roads. Ruby’s office is four-and-a-half hours away from the state Capitol – which makes it hard for him to address lawmakers while carrying a full-time schedule, he said.
Ruby said the state’s prosecutors have a plan to work with the Wyoming County Commissioners’ Association to share a facility and cut overhead costs. He estimated the position would cost one salary plus benefits, and a little overhead.
Appeal
Legislators are considering giving state prosecutors the authority to appeal cases to the Wyoming Supreme Court – which would also make the job more attractive, Ruby said.
There’s a bill pending before the Wyoming Legislature now.
If it passes, the bill could add more cases to the Wyoming Supreme Court’s already busy docket. But it could also help prosecutors overcome court decisions they believe to have legal issues.
Ruby said he’s polled his fellow elected prosecutors, and many said they wouldn’t appeal more than three times year. Some ventured even smaller figures than that.
“Most of us are saying it’s probably not even going to happen once a year,” he said.
Conversely, in a recent Cowboy State Daily story addressing a similar problem – a shortage of public defenders – one private attorney opined that giving prosecutors the authority to appeal cases could increase the strain on public defenders even more, exacerbating their shortage.
Getting At The Truth
Less prosecutor turnover and more retention makes for more justice, said Ruby.
And that’s not just about seeking convictions, but also about weighing the case accurately and not overstepping people’s rights, he added.
“A good prosecutor results in good verdicts, and good results – whether the person is found not guilty or guilty,” said Ruby. “You want a prosecutor who knows what they’re doing.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
