Wyoming Statutes

Wyo. Stat. § 6-2-402 (2026)

Blackmail; aggravated blackmail; penalties.

✓ current as of May 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section WY-LEGwyoleg.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

(a) A person commits blackmail if, with the intent to
obtain property of another or to compel action or inaction by
any person against his will, the person:

          (i) Threatens bodily injury or injury to the property
of another person; or

          (ii) Accuses or threatens to accuse a person of a
crime or immoral conduct which would tend to degrade or disgrace
the person or subject him to the ridicule or contempt of
society.

     (b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section,
blackmail is a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more
than ten (10) years.

     (c) A person commits aggravated blackmail, a felony
punishable by imprisonment for not less than five (5) years nor
more than twenty-five (25) years if in the course of committing
the crime of blackmail the person causes bodily injury to
another person.

     (d) As used in this section "in the course of committing
the crime" includes the time during which an attempt to commit
the crime or in which flight after the attempt or commission
occurred.

     (e) Conduct denoted blackmail in this section constitutes
a single offense embracing the separate crimes formerly known as
blackmail and extortion.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 9 cases, 1987–2012 · leading case: Wilkie v. Robbins, 551 U.S. 537 (2007).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Wilkie v. Robbins, 551 U.S. 537 (2007). · cites it 2× “This is the reason we would want to see some text in the Hobbs Act before we could say that Congress meant to go beyond the common law preoccupation with official corruption, to embrace the expansive notion of extortion Robbins urges on us.”

Robbins v. Bureau of Land Mgmt., 252 F. Supp. 2d 1286 (D. Wyo. 2003). · cites it 8× “§ 1951 , and the Wyoming Blackmail (extortion) statute, Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-402 (a). (Id. at pp.”

Cooney v. Park Cnty., 792 P.2d 1287 (Wyo. 1990). · cites it 4× “Apparently, that prosecutorial blackmail of a person with threatened confinement or continued prosecution unless a civil damage release is signed does not appear to be bothersome to the judiciary in absolving the prosecutor by the insulation of absolute immunity.”

Robbins v. Wilkie, 433 F.3d 755 (10th Cir. 2006). · cites it 7× “Robbins purchased the ranch from George Nelson who had granted to BLM a non-exclusive access easement along a road on the ranch.”

Andrews v. State, 2002 WY 28 (Wyo. 2002). · cites it 2× “Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-402 (a) (LexisNexis 2001).”

Sky Harbor Air Serv., Inc. v. Reams, 491 F. App'x 875 (10th Cir. 2012). “In Wyoming, blackmail “constitutes a single offense embracing the separate crimes formerly known as blackmail and extortion,” Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-402 (e), and is a felony punishable by imprisonment up to 10 years, id.”

Coleman v. State, 741 P.2d 99 (Wyo. 1987). “Arguably, it would fall afoul of § 6-2-402, W.S.1977, defining the crime of blackmail in Wyoming.”

Almada v. State, 994 P.2d 299 (Wyo. 1999). “6-2-401; (E) Blackmail as defined in W.S. 6-2-402; (F) Burglary as defined by W.”

Curtis v. Wilks, 704 F. Supp. 2d 771 (N.D. Ill. 2010). “” In addition, the Court held that the alleged violation of a Wyoming blackmail statute, see Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-402 , did not qualify as predicate offense under RICO because it was not “capable of being generically classified as extortionate.”

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.