“You Be The Judge” Returns to Western Wyoming Community College

ROCK SPRINGS – Western Wyoming Community College will again partner with the Wyoming Supreme Court, the District and Circuit Court Judges of the Third Judicial District, and the Sweetwater County Bar Association to host a free event, “You Be The Judge,” at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 21 in Room 3650 at WWCC’s Rock Springs Campus and on Tuesday, March 28 in the John Wesley Powell Room at WWCC’s Green River Campus.  Individuals interested in attending the program may participate at either session, as the presentations are identical.  Local judges and attorneys will present mock cases and invite audience recommendations on verdicts and sentencing, while explaining how the rules of evidence, due process, state laws, and other factors influence judicial decision making.

Participating in the sessions will be Wyoming Supreme Court Justices Catherine M. Fox (Rock Springs) and Keith G. Kautz (Green River), District Court Judges Richard Lavery and Nena James, Circuit Court Judges John Prokos and Craig Jones, and members of the Sweetwater County Bar Association.  Active cases will not be discussed; instead, the mock cases will be fictional composites of elements from a variety of real-life court scenarios.

Two matters will be presented at both the March 21 and March 28 sessions.  Those presentations include a juvenile criminal case and the sentencing of a defendant in a negligent vehicular homicide case.   Both sessions will last until approximately 9 p.m.  Western first hosted this annual community-education event in February 2015.

“You Be The Judge” programs also will be presented during closed daytime sessions for high school students at Green River High School on March 21 and 28, and at Rock Springs High School on March 22 and 29.  The students will consider the same cases and issues as participants in the evening college sessions, with an additional presentation that will allow them to create a law and then apply that law to several case scenarios.

Similar programs have been offered in Cheyenne and around the state since 2014.  Participants have described these sessions as “informative and helpful” and as contributing to the “transparency of the judicial system.”

Western Wyoming Community College is pleased to partner with the Wyoming Supreme Court, the District and Circuit Court Judges of the Third Judicial District, and the Sweetwater County Bar Association to present two free events to the citizens of Sweetwater County.  Refreshments will be provided.

For more information, contact David Tate, ….. at Western Wyoming Community College at [email protected] or at (307) 382-1882.