Wyoming Criminal Records

Wyoming keeps its criminal history the old way. The Division of Criminal Investigation builds the state record from arrest fingerprint cards, releases it by fingerprint for $15, and does not run a name search for the public; the district and circuit courts keep their dockets at the courthouse, with only the Supreme Court searchable online; and a judgment goes dormant five years after the last execution. The state's expungement statutes are narrow and specific, and the Judicial Branch explains them in plain words on its own page. This page gives the Wyoming rule and the Wyoming search for each record, with government sources only.

The Division's Criminal Records Unit explains where the record comes from: "Wyoming's criminal history records are created with a submission of an arrest fingerprint card (FPC)," which the arresting agency must send in "the earliest time possible," a phrase the Division's rules define as "not to exceed seventy-two hours." Its applicant tracking questions page prices the check: "While most non-criminal justice applicants are charged $15, fingerprint based criminal record checks for qualified volunteers," those serving youth or victims of family violence, "are $10, and this is only a Wyoming/WIN background check. For persons who are fingerprinted at the Division of Criminal Investigation, there is a $5 fee for the fingerprinting service." The Division's background checks page sends anyone wanting a national record without a statute behind them to the FBI directly. There is no name-based check for the public; a Wyoming record reaches an employer or a licensing board through the person's own fingerprints and signed release. So a Wyoming state record produced by name for a stranger did not come from the Division; it came from a copy of a court index or a jail roster, and the criminal records page explains what such a copy misses and why a name match is not a person.

Felonies are tried in the district courts, one for each of the nine judicial districts covering the 23 counties, with a clerk of district court in each county, and misdemeanors in the circuit courts. Neither posts a public docket search online; case information is searched at the public access terminals in the courthouses and at the State Law Library, and the clerks certify copies, while the Judicial Branch's Supreme Court case search covers appeals. The county pages on this site link each clerk of district court and circuit court. A background check company's "Wyoming court record" is therefore a copy of a courthouse terminal search on the date it was made, and the criminal records page explains what a copy misses.

The Judicial Branch's expungements page lays out the routes. Wyoming Statute 7-13-1401 expunges the record of an arrest or charge that ended without a conviction, after 180 days, with the note the courts add in capitals: "A person who pleads guilty or is convicted of a charge is not able to get expungement under this statute (W.S. 7-13-1401), even if there is deferred adjudication or the charge is later dismissed. However, the person may still be able to get expungement under other statutes." Statute 7-13-1501 is the one for misdemeanors: "A person who pleads guilty, pleads no contest, or is convicted of a misdemeanor may ask for expungement," five years after the sentence or supervision is completed, one year for a status offense, with no later convictions and with the offenses the section excludes; if the prosecutor does not object within thirty days of notice "the court may summarily enter an order if the court finds that the petitioner is otherwise eligible." Statute 7-13-1502 reaches a single nonviolent felony after ten years. An expunged Wyoming record is removed from the court's public file and the Division's, and a copy sold before the order is reached through the federal rule on complete and up to date public records, on the criminal records page.

The Wyoming Public Records Act, 16-4-201 to 16-4-205, opens public records to any person and lets a custodian withhold, under 16-4-203(b)(i), "records of investigations conducted by, or of intelligence information or security procedures of, any sheriff, county attorney, city attorney, the attorney general, the state auditor, police department," and "any investigatory files compiled for any other law enforcement or prosecution purposes," where release would be contrary to the public interest. The fact of an arrest, the charge and the booking are not the investigation, and the sheriffs post them: the Laramie County Sheriff's inmate information for Cheyenne and the Natrona County roster for Casper are linked from the county pages, and the Wyoming Department of Corrections' offender locator covers state prisoners, with a search that needs "either a WDOC inmate number OR the first two letters of the offender's last name." The arrest records page covers what happens to a booking after it leaves the roster.

A Wyoming judgment is a lien on the debtor's real estate in a county once a transcript is filed with the clerk of district court there, and under Wyoming Statute 1-17-307 it goes dormant if no execution issues within five years of the judgment, "or if five (5) years intervene between the date the last execution issued on the judgment and the time of issuing another execution thereon," at which point "the judgment is dormant and ceases to operate as a lien on the estate of the judgment debtor." The Crook County clerk of district court puts it in one line: "A judgment has a lifetime of 5 years from the last date of execution or date of judgment. A dormant judgment may be revived per Wyoming Statute," 1-16-503, within ten years of going dormant. The court records page covers where the judgment dockets and the county clerks' records are searched.

Wyoming is a single federal judicial district under 28 U.S.C. 131, and the statute makes it the only district that crosses state lines: "Wyoming and those portions of Yellowstone National Park situated in Montana and Idaho constitute one judicial district." Court is held at Casper, Cheyenne, Evanston, Lander, Jackson and Sheridan. A federal criminal case from any of Wyoming's 23 counties, or from the park, is on that one docket and on PACER, whose prices and gaps are on the criminal records page.

Whether a person has a Wyoming state record: the Division answers it by fingerprint for $15, and for no one by name.

Whether a person was charged in a county: the courthouse terminal answers it at the district or circuit court, and the clerk certifies the answer.

Whether a person was arrested: the arrest and the booking are public, and the investigation file may be withheld.

Whether a person is in custody now: the county sheriff's roster answers it, and the Department of Corrections' locator for state prison.

Whether an old case can still be found: an expunged case is off the court and the Division, a judgment goes dormant five years after the last execution and can be revived for ten, and a copy that predates the expungement is reached through the federal rule.