Wyo. R. Crim. P. 2 (2026)

Rule 2. Purpose and Construction. These rules are intended to provide for the just determination of every criminal proceeding. They shall be construed to secure simplicity in procedure, fairness in administration and the elimination of unjustifiable expense and delay.

Compare. — Rule 2, Fed. Rules Cr. Proc. death penalty. Pursuant to such a view, a capi- “Verdict” for purposes of alternate-juror tal-case jury may be said to retire to consider its selection. — Reading W.R.C.P. 2 and 24(e) verdict twice, once for the guilt phase and once together, and in light of the purpose served by for the sentencing phase, and alternate jurors alternate jurors, it seems clear that the term are authorized to serve in sentencing-phase “verdict” in W.R.C.P. 24(e) must be read in a deliberations even if they did not serve during broad sense to refer to a final jury decision on the guilt phase, so long as the replacement is any matter specifically committed to it. Thus, made before the jury retires to begin sentenc- the term must be read to refer not only to a ing-phase deliberations. Olsen v. State, 2003 determination of a defendant’s guilt of a crime, WY 46, 67 P.3d 536, 2003 Wyo. LEXIS 57 (Wyo. but also to a jury’s separate determination of a 2003). matter of the sort typically involved in bifur- Law reviews. — For comment discussing cated proceedings, such as a defendant’s ha- the constitutional requirements for guilty bitual-criminal status or the propriety of the pleas, see VI Land & Water L. Rev. 753 (1971).