CASPER, Wyo. (AP) -
The Wyoming Supreme Court has upheld the dismissal of a murder case that became a test of the state’s expanded self-defense law.
The Casper Star-Tribune reported the court on Monday sided with Jason T. John, who was accused of fatally shooting Wesley Willow nine times with an AR-15 rifle during a confrontation at John’s trailer home in August 2018.
A judge dismissed the case after John’s attorney argued that he was protected from prosecution by a law instituted by Wyoming legislators about a month before the killing that exempts a person from a duty to retreat.
Prosecutors appealed that ruling, saying John wasn’t entitled to a dismissal hearing and asked the Supreme Court to determine what criteria courts can use to dismiss cases under the new law.
The high court ruled that the lower judge didn’t apply the proper standards in making her ruling, but that John was immune under the new rules, anyway.
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