CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Multiple victims’ families say they’ve experienced poor communication and a lack of support navigating the justice system from the Laramie County District Attorney’s Office. It’s a problem acknowledged by Laramie County District Attorney Sylvia Hackl, who said additional staff have been hired to help address response times.
When a defendant’s case moves through the state’s court system, victims and their families are typically assigned an advocate by the office. The advocate helps guide the victims through the prosecution process, notify them of public court proceedings and serve as a central point of contact for any questions or concerns, among other duties.
David and Amanda Harrison said the advocate and attorney assigned to their case did not provide them with timely updates regarding defendants’ court dates, plea deals or any other important developments.
The Harrisons’ 16-year old daughter, Angelina, was killed in a January shooting near Frontier Mall. The defendants include Sarah Heath, who was sentenced Aug. 22 to 32–36 months in prison for accessory after the fact to manslaughter; Tirso Munguia, who was recently sentenced to 15–20 years for involuntary manslaughter on Sept. 25; and Cody Nicholson, who pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to manslaughter and will be sentenced on Nov. 6.
Amanda said their advocate promised to respond to any phone calls or emails within 48 hours, but oftentimes it would take weeks for them to get back, or sometimes not at all. When the staff eventually responded, the reasons for the delays were vague, Amanda said.
“We’ve heard several different excuses, some of them being ‘I forgot’; some of them being ‘I thought so and so was going to communicate to you’; ‘we didn’t know’; ‘we were out of the office,'” she said. “There’s been a variety of different excuses that we’ve been given.”
On more than one occasion, the Harrisons took it upon themselves to visit the DA’s Office in person and request answers.
“I had to go to the [District Attorney’s] office to some extent, sit out in the hallway, waiting for one of them to get there, so I could find out, ‘Do we have a court date? Do we have any more evidence? Have you followed up on any pleas?’ It ultimately felt like we were the ones doing everything,” David said.
“I don’t think victims’ families should work this hard, especially while they are grieving,” Amanda said.
The Harrisons aren’t the only ones who feel slighted by the Laramie County DA’s Office.
Laramie residents Refugio and Kelsea Cerenils got involved with the office following the death of their daughter, Phoenix Cerenil. The 19-year-old was allegedly killed by her boyfriend, Charles Karn, in Cheyenne in June.
Laramie County Circuit Court found enough evidence to proceed with a first-degree murder trial for Karn in July. The 19-year-old pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder on Sept. 14 in District Court. An official date for his sentencing has not been set.
The Cerenils said their victim advocate failed to inform them of continued court dates and any other information relevant to Karn’s case. In one instance, the Cerenils drove from Laramie to Cheyenne to be present at Karn’s preliminary hearing, only to find it had been continued. They found out another one of Karn’s court dates had been continued through Kelsea’s mother, who lives in Texas, after she called the DA’s Office beforehand. Like the Harrisons, the Cerenils said they could rarely reach their advocate in a timely manner.
“There’s no hope of improving,” Refugio said. “I’ve been emailing them and I try to wait 48 hours, and then I have to re-email them. I have to label it ‘victim advocate one,’ ‘victim advocate second attempt,’ ‘third attempt,’ before they finally answer.”
The family has worked closely with the Albany County SAFE Project, a nonprofit that supports survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and family violence, following Phoenix’s death. Kelsea said she’s noticed a difference between how the Laramie County and Albany County DA’s offices treat victims’ families.
“In Albany County people meet you at court, there are always updates, they are there to support you step by step,” she said. “You’re not being in court alone and not sitting there with [the defendant’s] families. … I knew from them that [the Laramie County Victim Advocates] weren’t doing their job.”
It eventually reached a point where Kelsea sent a complaint to the Laramie County Human Resources Department on Aug. 21 to express her concerns.
In her complaint, Kelsea writes that the lack of communication and response from their advocate is a violation of their victim’s rights, which include the right to know the whereabouts of the defendant and the current status of the case, the right to be present at trial and the right to be informed about the opportunity to make a victim impact statement at sentencing and parole hearing.
“I have read through the Victim Bill of Rights and the services that are to be offered and I find this to be completely non-compliant to those,” the complaint states. “It is starting to feel as though every effort is being made to keep us out of these hearings and in the dark.”
Kelsea said the HR department sent a follow-up email shortly afterward, saying that staff were trying to figure out who to best send her concerns to. She hasn’t heard from the DA’s Office about it.
Laramie County DA Hackl said the office manages hundred of cases and is aware that the victim advocate or attorney on a case are not always able to get in touch with victims’ family as quickly as they would like. The office hired an additional victim advocate coordinator in early September after a roughly three-month vacancy. Hackl said she hopes the responses will be quicker moving forward.
“We understand that this is a highly traumatic time for victims and their families,” she said. “At the same time, I don’t think to extrapolate from the complaints of one or two families to all the work that we do is accurate. I think we’re doing our best.”
