A new state law creates more opportunities for accommodations for underage survivors of sexual assault or incest when they testify in court. It goes into effect on July 1.
Children under the age of 18 now have the option to testify remotely, rather than being in the same room as their alleged perpetrator or a jury. Instead of being in-person, the testimony is televised in real-time.
However, a court must determine through a hearing conducted ahead of time that being in the same space as an offender would cause substantial emotional distress or make it difficult for the child to communicate.
Sen. Wendy Schuler (R-Evanston) sponsored the bill and introduced it at a House Judiciary Committee meeting during the legislative session.
“ This bill actually came about as a result of some of the testimony we heard in Joint Judiciary [Committee] about some of the issues we're seeing with the increase, unfortunately, with sexual crimes against our Wyoming children,” she said.
Schuler said she initially had some concerns that the legislation might conflict with the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right of an accused person in a criminal trial to confront witnesses face-to-face in court.
But she said there is a list of exceptions that have been held up in various court cases, especially when there are concerns about a witness’ safety.
“ There are exceptions. The court has to decide [in a hearing] if it's reasonable to go ahead and exclude this child and let them do the remote [testimony],” she said.
The law also creates other possible supports for a broader category of underage victims appearing in-court, which apply to survivors of human trafficking and any violent felony, as well as survivors of sexual assault and incest.
Those include requiring that questions be asked in an age-appropriate way, having enough breaks for the child’s comfort, having a support person clearly visible and in close proximity, and having a therapy dog or emotional comfort item present in the courtroom.
That list of accommodations does not require a hearing beforehand, as the victim would still be in the same room as their alleged perpetrator and is therefore in compliance with the Sixth Amendment.
“ We're just trying to protect our young victims of sexual assault, incest, violent felonies and human trafficking by giving the courts the option to allow these victims not to be re-traumatized,” said Schuler.
The senator said she modeled much of the bill’s language from another child witness courtroom procedures-related law passed in South Dakota in 2023, although South Dakota sets the age limit to under 16. The initial version of the Wyoming bill also set the age limit to under 16, but that was later amended to 18 in a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting.
States like Montana and North Dakota also have similar laws in place, with age limits of 16 and 15 respectively.
Stacy Nelson is the executive director of the Casper-based Children’s Advocacy Project, which provides forensic interviews and victim support. She spoke in favor of the bill when it was going through the Legislature.
“For these kids, it is terrifying sometimes for them to have to see the defendant in the room,” she said. “We've really been advocating for anything that can help minimize that for them.”
The project’s Casper location, which is one of three centers in the state, conducted 262 interviews last calendar year and 190 of them were with underage victims of sexual assault, according to Nelson. She said the emotional difficulty of bringing those stories to courtrooms can sometimes result in plea agreements.
“ We understand the Sixth Amendment right, but I think it's important to find that balance so the victims also have that opportunity [to testify],” she said.
Mike Thompson is the chief of police in Evanston and is also a board member at the Child Advocacy Project in Casper. He said victim testimony is “absolutely critical,” especially in cases of sexual abuse.
“ Often in cases of this nature, there's very little, if any, evidence to collaborate the child's account of the offense because of the secretive nature of the crime itself,” he said. “Most sex offenses therefore must be proven by the testimony of the victim, collaborated, if the prosecutor's lucky, by medical and or laboratory evidence.”
Thompson added that passing the bill into law would create “uniformity across the state” in how judges in Wyoming handle these kinds of cases.
The bill passed the House unanimously and passed the Senate with a 27-4 vote. Gov. Mark Gordon signed the bill into law on Mar. 6.
