With less than two weeks until the start of Jacob Anglesey’s trial in the 2009 death of Connor Allen, his defense sought a postponement due to concerns of not receiving everything on file at the Sweetwater County Attorney’s Office.
A motion filed to postpone the trial was denied by District Court Judge Richard Lavery, keeping the Sept. 11 date to start the trial. However, the judge also said the county attorney’s office would have to file affidavits certifying that all information pertaining to the case has been turned over to Anglesey’s attorney, as well as certifying that they have all the information from Wyoming Department of Family Services, the Green River Police Department and the Wyoming Department of Criminal Investigation.
According to Anglesey’s defense attorney Joshua Merseal, he continued receiving information from the county attorney’s office as recently as Aug. 16, which gave him less than a month to analyze the information. Merseal also doubted having an entire file provided by doctors involved in the case, claiming there were page discrepancies between what was listed his receipt and what was in the actual file he received from the county attorney’s office.
The new information coming to his office has caused him to doubt if he had everything available.
“We just keep rolling into ‘what else exists,’” Merseal said.
Sweetwater County Attorney Daniel Erramouspe said his office maintains an open document policy with other attorneys, saying the office will turn over any information they receive to a defense attorney.
“If we get something, we send it,” Erramouspe said.
Erramouspe said his office received information from DFS and other agencies recently and passed it along as soon as they received it, though Merseal argued the documents were in the possession of law enforcement agencies and therefore was in possession by the prosecution.
He said the documents had existed for several years despite the county attorney’s office not knowing of their existence.
During the hearing, Lavery initiated two recesses to allow Erramouspe and Merseal to compare what data they have. A 10-minute recess was initiated to review data, while a longer 45-minute recess was provided to allow Merseal a chance to review the county attorney’s information versus what he was provided. Merseal said he has the all documentation the county attorney’s office had.
Lavery criticized the county attorney’s office, believing testimony from EMTs was not released to the Anglesey’s attorney in a timely manner and was critical of both sides not utilizing more court orders to release information. He also did not believe the information recently delivered to Merseal would have a major impact on the case.
Lavery said he didn’t want to postpone the trial any further because of the schedules involved with many of the witnesses, as well as the fact the trial was initially scheduled to take place in 2016. He believes the case is ready for trial and said his fear in granting the motion to postpone the trial would result in the trial being held off for another six or eight months.
Anglesey, speaking to the court, said he would prefer to wait the additional time to ensure he receives a fair trial.
“I’m the one who has to sit here and wonder if everyone is on the up and up,” Anglesey said.
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