Defendant Fails to Appear for Pretrial Conference in District Court

A virtual pretrial conference for Marie Franks of Sheridan was held Thursday in Fourth Judicial District Court. Franks, who is charged with felony child abuse for an alleged incident that occurred on June 19 at a residence in Sheridan, failed to appear via telephone for the virtual hearing. Defense Attorney Seth Shumaker said he’d been in recent contact with his client and that she knew of the hearing, and numerous attempts to contact her Thursday morning by phone were met with a busy signal.

District Court Judge John Fenn told Shumaker that he had 24 hours to sort things out with his client, after which time if there wasn’t a reasonable explanation provided to the prosecution as to why Franks skipped the hearing, Sheridan County Deputy and Prosecuting Attorney Christina White could then request a bench warrant be issued for Frank’s arrest.

The jury trial, which was scheduled to begin on January 4, has been continued due to the Wyoming Supreme Court’s ruling last month that suspends all jury trials in the state until further notice due to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases. Judge Fenn said a status conference on the case would most likely be held in early to mid January depending whether or not a bench warrant is issued. The charge of felony child abuse is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000.