Charpentier v. State

Explicit in the Wyoming Constitution, the bedrock of a fair and properly applied system of criminal justice requires a defendant be adequately represented by competent counsel, with guilt or innocence to be determined by a fair and impartial fact finder, normally the constitutionally provided jury. Article 1, § 6, Due process of law; Art. 1, § 9, Trial by a jury inviolate; and Art. 1, § 10, Right of accused to defend. See Abrahamson, Criminal Law and State Constitutions: The Emergence of State Constitutional Law, 63 Texas L.Rev. 1141 (1985). Availability of adequate legal representation is…