2020 Wyoming Statutes
Title 7 - Criminal Procedure
Chapter 11 - Trial and Matters Incident Thereto
Article 2 - Trial
Section 7-11-201 - Order of Proceedings.
7-11-201. Order of proceedings.
(a) After the jury has been impaneled and sworn, the trial shall proceed in the following order:
(i) The counsel for the state shall state the case of the prosecution, and may briefly state the evidence by which he expects to sustain it;
(ii) The defendant or his counsel may then state his defense and may briefly state the evidence he expects to offer in support of it, or may wait until the evidence on the part of the state is closed;
(iii) The state shall first produce its evidence; the defendant will then produce his evidence;
(iv) The state will then be confined to rebutting evidence unless the court, for good reasons, in furtherance of justice, shall permit it to offer evidence in chief;
(v) When the evidence is concluded, either party may request instructions to the jury on the points of law, which shall be given or refused by the court. The instructions shall be reduced to writing;
(vi) Before the argument of the case is begun, the court shall immediately, and before proceeding with other business, charge the jury. The charge shall be reduced to writing by the court, if either party requests it. No charge or instruction provided for in this section, when written or given, shall be orally qualified, modified or explained to the jury by the court. All written charges and instructions, shall be taken by the jury in their retirement and returned with their verdict into court, and shall remain on file with the papers of the case;
(vii) When the evidence is concluded, and the charge given by the court, unless the case is submitted without argument, the counsel for the state shall commence, the defendant or his counsel follow, and the counsel for the state shall conclude the argument to the jury.