Wyoming Statutes

Wyo. Stat. § 18-3-302 (2026)

Duties generally; employment of other attorneys

✓ current as of May 2026

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by county.

    (a)   Each county attorney shall:

          (i) Act in all courts in the state as legal counsel
for his county or counties and its officers acting in their
official capacity and prosecute or defend all suits instituted
by or against his county or counties or its officers;

          (ii) Give his opinion in writing upon the request of
any county officer of his county or counties, without fee, upon
all questions of law relating to the duties of such officer and
file and preserve in his office a copy of all such opinions;

          (iii) Examine the bonds offered by every county
officer before the bonds are approved by the board of county
commissioners and report in writing to the board of county
commissioners or to the judge of the district court whether the
bonds are executed as required by law;

         (iv)   Perform other duties as prescribed by law.

     (b) In any county in a judicial district in which the
office of district attorney has not been created, the county and
prosecuting attorney shall have the jurisdiction,
responsibilities, and duties of the district attorney and of the
county attorney.

     (c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent
the county commissioners of any county or consolidation of
counties from employing one (1) or more attorneys to appear and
prosecute or defend or assist the county and prosecuting
attorney in behalf of the people of the state or such county or
consolidation of counties in any action or proceeding, whether
civil or criminal. In such case, the nature and necessity of the
employment shall appear in the record of the board or boards.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the board
of county commissioners of a county which has consolidated from
independently employing one (1) or more attorneys to serve their
respective counties.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 6 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1982–2026 · leading case: Brandon Lee Wells v. The State of Wyoming, 2026 WY 37 (Wyo. 2026).

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Brandon Lee Wells v. The State of Wyoming, 2026 WY 37 (Wyo. 2026). · cites it 7× “3 [¶16] The State argues that the county attorney statute, Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 18-3-302 (2025), precludes county attorneys from binding each other under plea agreements.”

Blake v. Rupe, 651 P.2d 1096 (Wyo. 1982). · cites it 2× “II A county and prosecuting attorney in the State of Wyoming "act[s] as prosecutor for the State of Wyoming in all felonies and misdemeanors arising in his [her] county" and prosecutes such cases in the courts of such county, § 18-3-302, W.S. 1977, in effect at the time the…”

Casiano v. State ex rel. Wyo. Dep't of Transp., 434 P.3d 116 (Wyo. 2019). · cites it 2× “Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 18-3-302 (a) - (c) (LexisNexis 2017) (county attorneys fulfill duties of district attorneys in counties where there is no district attorney and may "appear .”

Hilderbrand v. Padget, 678 P.2d 870 (Wyo. 1984). “In counties where there is no district attorney, the county and prosecuting attorney has all of the jurisdiction, responsibilities and duties of the district attorney, § 18-3-302(b), W.S.1977, (Cum. Supp.1983), and these include exclusive jurisdiction to: “Act as prosecutor for…”

Hall v. State, 851 P.2d 1262 (Wyo. 1993). · cites it 2× “§ 9-1-804 (1991) and § 18-3-302 (Supp.1992)). [2] From the foregoing analysis, we hold a prosecuting attorney (district attorney or county attorney) in Wyoming has no authority to grant immunity to a witness.”

Bender v. Greer, 996 P.2d 671 (Wyo. 2000). · cites it 4× “Whether the Uinta County and Prosecuting Attorney can provide legal advice pursuant to W.S. § 18-3-302(a)(ii), or perform other duties pursuant to W.”

— Wyo. Stat. § 18-3-302(a)(ii) — 1 case

Bender v. Greer, 996 P.2d 671 (Wyo. 2000). “Whether the Uinta County and Prosecuting Attorney can provide legal advice pursuant to W.S. § 18-3-302(a)(ii), or perform other duties pursuant to W.”

— Wyo. Stat. § 18-3-302(a)(iv) — 1 case

Bender v. Greer, 996 P.2d 671 (Wyo. 2000). “Whether the Uinta County and Prosecuting Attorney can provide legal advice pursuant to W.S. § 18-3-302(a)(ii), or perform other duties pursuant to W.”

— Wyo. Stat. § 18-3-302(b) — 2 cases

Brandon Lee Wells v. The State of Wyoming, 2026 WY 37 (Wyo. 2026). “3 [¶16] The State argues that the county attorney statute, Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 18-3-302 (2025), precludes county attorneys from binding each other under plea agreements.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.