When a Douglas Circuit Court judge accepted a prosecutor and defense attorney’s plea agreement giving a 41-year-old woman two years of probation last week for stalking two teens, he cried.
Judge Clark C. Allan fought back tears audibly at the March 19 sentencing hearing for Marcie Smith, who was charged with two counts of stalking for impersonating, badgering and taunting two Glenrock High School students for a year.
Evidence surfaced last year that Smith was behind a yearlong effort to make Gillian Holman, who is now almost 17 but was 15 when the onslaught started, look like a bully who was cruel and promiscuous. Some texts impersonated Gillian; others were worded as if they were from a teacher or parent voicing concerns about Gillian’s behavior, according to interviews with the Holman family and screenshots from the case.
Gillian’s friend, and now-boyfriend Preston Sorensen also endured months of what his parents called “grooming” and harrowing behavior by Smith. She tried to coerce Preston into dating her own daughter when the pair broke up after freshman year. She even encouraged the teen to send her daughter a photograph of himself in his underwear, screenshots show.
Smith pleaded no contest, which is an agreement to be sentenced but not an admission of guilt. No-contest pleas can help people avoid some repercussions in subsequent lawsuits.
Misdemeanor stalking in Wyoming carries a potential penalty of up to one year in jail and $750 in fines.
The sentence seems light to Preston’s mom Brandi Sorensen.
“If it were up to me, I would not have (settled),” said Brandi. “And I definitely let (the prosecutor) know that.”
But, added Brandi, Marcie Smith’s defense attorney Patrick Lewallen had pointed out what he called a discrepancy in the case – and he indicated he planned to ask the court to suppress evidence.
If a court suppresses evidence based on some investigative flaw, then the prosecutor can’t use that evidence at trial. Suppressions can be minor or crippling, depending on what part of the case they silence.
Gillian’s mom Cathy Holman told Cowboy State Daily she believes the issue was with a warrant written to ferret out an anonymous Gmail address being used to lodge fraudulent teacher complaints against Gillian. Lewallen had claimed the warrant was overbroad, Cathy Holman recalled.
“But it needed to be broad, because we didn’t know who was (sending the emails),” said Cathy.
She said she wasn’t sure if Lewallen’s suppression effort would have worked. But she recognized that the move could have led to appeals and a drawn-out timeline – when what she wanted was for the stalking to end so the teens could enjoy their high school years, said Cathy.
“And we knew the only way we could do that was to have the court case be done and to finally share our side of the story,” she said.
Though Cathy voiced a general frustration that the criminal justice system is “demoralizing” and seems to be “built for the criminal and not for the victim,” she also said she doesn’t hold the light sentence against the case prosecutor, Converse County Deputy Attorney Nate Shumway.
"I am channeling that feeling of helplessness into making sure that other families don’t feel that way; and when an adult is stalking a minor it will be a felony and justice will be served for those families," said Cathy, who - along with other case victims - is pushing for a change to the state's stalking laws.
Shumway told Allan at the sentencing hearing that the families were aware of the plea agreement and were “reluctantly” in support of it.
He’d explained to them “the risks and benefits of a plea agreement (versus) going to jury trial,” the prosecutor said, adding that the families understood, though they didn’t find the plea agreement ideal.
Besides the probation term, Allen ordered Smith to get mental health help, avoid alcohol and drugs, have no contact with the Sorensen and Holman families, and pay $1,390 total in costs, fines and fees.
'Coyote'
Gillian, both her parents, and Preston and both his parents all delivered tearful and passionate victim impact statements before the court during the sentencing on March 19.
Gillian’s father Dan Holman compared Smith to a predator.
“She’s lurked in the shadows and preyed on the young like a coyote does,” said Dan. “And she should be regarded as such.”
In her own statement Gillian referred to the defendant as “Mrs. Smith,” and questioned why a parent who often served as a school chaperone would have been scheming against her while placed in a position to protect her.
‘Take This With All Your Heart’
When his time came to speak, Judge Allan was fighting back tears.
“One of the most precious things about a small town is the trust people develop in each other,” said the judge, his voice strained with emotion. “You’ve obviously destroyed that completely.”
Allan said he’s seen a wide array of stalking cases, from those that fit the law technically but aren’t that harrowing, to others that are “just evil.”
“What I’ve heard here today, is just evil,” said Allan. “You’ve got a long, long way to go to get a grip on all this. And I certainly hope and pray that you get there. I don’t know that the trust can ever be restored in your community, but I do believe that people can change. And you’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Later in his statement Allan ventured some encouragement for Smith: he said some of the most successful addiction counselors are those who were once severe addicts. The reference was only a metaphor: the judge did not make a finding that addiction was a factor in this case.
Perhaps Smith could likewise make use of her past behavior, he indicated.
“So your future can be very, very, very different,” said Allan. “But you’ve got to take this all with your whole heart, ‘kay?”
Smith has 30 days from her sentencing order’s entry to appeal any perceived injustice in the case if she wishes.
Lewallen said neither he nor Smith had any speech to make in public, but the defense attorney noted, “the court has in its possession some confidential materials speaking to some of the points I wanted to make.”
Lewallen did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment. He declined Friday to comment for an earlier Cowboy State Daily story, as well.
Shumway declined to comment Wednesday, saying the Converse County Attorney’s Office doesn’t comment on its cases.
Going To The Capitol
Some members of both the Sorensen and Holman families are going to the Wyoming Legislature’s Management Council meeting April 8, to urge the committee to assign an interim topic to the judiciary committee: Drawing up a new felony stalking charge for adults who stalk minors.
The draft version Cathy sent last week to Cowboy State Daily would let prosecutors charge felony stalking for adults who stalk minors who are more than three years younger. The charge would carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines – which is a high maximum that many Wyoming felony cases allow, but few cases reach.
The broad swath gives judges a high level of latitude in individual cases.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
