2012 Wyoming Statutes
TITLE 5 - COURTS
CHAPTER 9 - CIRCUIT COURTS
5-9-208. Full-time magistrates; powers of magistrates who are authorized to practice law; powers of magistrates who are not authorized to practice law.

(a) At the direction of the circuit judges of a circuit or the supreme court, a full-time magistrate of the circuit court who is authorized to practice law in Wyoming may perform all of the duties of a circuit court judge presiding in circuit court as authorized by law and rules. Upon direction, the magistrate shall have all of the powers of a circuit court judge presiding in circuit court as authorized by law and rules. A magistrate shall not preside in or hear or decide any district court proceeding or case in circuit court pursuant to assignment under W.S. 5-3-112.

(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section and upon request and consent of all parties to a proceeding or case in circuit court and subject to the approval of the circuit judge presiding in the proceeding or case, a full-time magistrate who is authorized to practice law in Wyoming may hear and determine any and all matters relating to the proceeding or case that are within the jurisdiction of the circuit court, except the magistrate shall not preside in or hear or decide any district court proceeding or case in circuit court pursuant to assignment under W.S. 5-3-112.

(c) At the direction of the circuit court judges of a circuit court, a full-time magistrate of the circuit court who is not authorized to practice law in Wyoming may within the county from which appointed:

(i) Administer an oath or affirmation authorized or required by law to be administered;

(ii) Take acknowledgment of deeds, mortgages and other instruments in writing;

(iii) Perform marriage ceremonies;

(iv) Issue subpoenas for witnesses, and require their attendance in causes or matters pending before them, or other cause or matter wherein they may be required to take depositions;

(v) Try the action for forcible entry and detainer, as set forth in W.S. 1-21-1001 through 1-21-1016;

(vi) Proceed against sureties for costs and amount of bail, on the stay of execution on their dockets;

(vii) Issue attachments, executions and garnishments, and proceed against the goods and effects of debtors in certain cases, as provided by law;

(viii) Issue executions on judgments rendered by them;

(ix) Try the right of the claimant to property taken in execution, garnishment or on attachment;

(x) Try all civil actions where the amount in controversy, exclusive of costs, does not exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000.00);

(xi) Try an action upon bonds, conditioned for the payment of money, where the amount claimed does not exceed two hundred dollars ($200.00), though the penalty exceeds that sum, the judgment to be given for the sum actually due;

(xii) Hear and determine an action brought upon any instrument payable in installments, as each installment becomes due, when such instrument and amounts shall be within the magistrate's jurisdiction;

(xiii) Enter the following judgments, when the amount does not exceed the magistrate's jurisdiction:

(A) Judgment by default;

(B) Summary judgment;

(C) Judgment on the pleadings;

(D) Judgment on the confession of a party;

(E) Set aside default judgments; and

(F) Issue any order a circuit judge can enter in chambers.

(xiv) Try an action for disposition of an abandoned vehicle as provided by W.S. 31-13-112(e), regardless of the value of the abandoned vehicle;

(xv) Issue warrants or summonses in criminal cases in accordance with the rules promulgated by the Wyoming supreme court. A warrant or summons issued by the magistrate charging any crime may be executed or served at any place within the state;

(xvi) Set bail in criminal proceedings, including bail for witnesses, in accordance with the provisions of W.S. 5-9-132(a) and the rules promulgated by the Wyoming supreme court;

(xvii) In accordance with the Wyoming Rules of Criminal Procedure, conduct extradition proceedings, initial appearances and preliminary examinations for persons charged with felonies;

(xviii) Arraign, try, and sentence defendants in criminal cases amounting to misdemeanors for which the punishment prescribed by law does not exceed imprisonment for more than one (1) year, regardless of the amount of the fine that may be imposed. In relation to such misdemeanors, this includes the power to accept plea agreements, order the examination of a defendant who enters a plea of not guilty by reason of mental illness or deficiency or not triable by reason of mental illness or deficiency, order presentence investigations, order substance abuse evaluations, order and conduct pretrial conferences, enter orders for sentencing, impose sentence, impose terms of probation, issue orders to show cause, conduct show cause hearings and enter such other orders as a circuit judge may enter in chambers when the circuit judge is unavailable, when the judge has recused himself from the case or when the judge has been peremptorily disqualified from hearing a case. In criminal cases where a full-time magistrate may sentence a defendant to imprisonment for not more than one (1) year and the law authorizes imposition of a term of probation that exceeds the maximum term of incarceration established for the offense, the magistrate may sentence the defendant to probation as authorized by such law;

(xix) Correct an illegal sentence imposed in a criminal case or reduce a sentence at any time;

(xx) Preserve and enforce order in his immediate presence and in the proceedings before him; and

(xxi) Hear and issue orders in peace bond, stalking and domestic violence cases under Wyoming statutes, title 7, chapter 3 and title 35, chapter 21.