Appeal
from the District Court of Natrona County The Honorable
Catherine E. Wilking, Judge
Representing Appellant: Office of the Public Defender: Diane
Lozano, State Public Defender; Tina N. Olson [*] , Chief Appellate
Counsel; Kirk A. Morgan, Senior Assistant Appellate Counsel.
Representing Appellee: Peter K. Michael, Wyoming Attorney
General; Christyne M. Martens, Deputy Attorney General;
Caitlin F. Harper, Senior Assistant Attorney General;
Benjamin Fischer, Assistant Attorney General.
Before
BURKE, C.J., and DAVIS, FOX, KAUTZ, and BOOMGAARDEN, JJ.
BURKE,
Chief Justice
[¶1]
Appellant, Doyle Eugene Gabbert, was convicted of eight
felonies following a bench trial. He contends the district
court erred in determining that he failed to prove he was not
guilty by reason of mental illness or defect. We affirm.
ISSUE
[¶2]
Appellant presents one issue:
Did the
district court err when it held that Mr. Gabbert had failed
to prove that he was not guilty by reason of mental illness
or defect?
FACTS
[¶3]
Appellant committed a series of crimes over the course of
three days in August 2016, while on parole from a lengthy
prison sentence. On August 10, 2016, while driving in Casper,
Appellant turned without using a signal and cut off another
motorist. When the other driver raised his hands in
exasperation, Appellant took offense. He pulled up behind the
motorist, exited his vehicle, and lifted up his shirt,
revealing a handgun. Appellant fired the gun at the motorist
as he drove away, breaking both the front and back windshield
of the vehicle.
[¶4]
After this incident, Appellant abandoned his vehicle,
borrowed a car from an acquaintance, left town and went to a
motel near Evansville where a friend had procured a room for
him. Prior to leaving for Evansville, he told the
acquaintance that the police would be looking for him.
Appellant then sent a text message to his parole agent,
telling her that "I bring everything on myself; it's
not just happening to me. I have been getting high and doing
all kinds of stupid shit. So who knows what's coming back
on me now." He also told his parole officer that he was
in Sheridan instead of Evansville. Appellant told his parole
agent that he was staying in Sheridan because he
"didn't want her thinking I was in town so she could
come grab me."
[¶5]
On August 12, Appellant thought the police had found him at
the motel, and he texted a friend that "the God damn
cops found me in my motel somehow, and I had to haul
ass." Appellant ran to a nearby house and his friend
picked him up. While driving away, the friend nearly collided
with another car while taking a wide turn at an intersection.
Kane Knight, the driver of the car, had to "slam on the
brakes to stop." In the car with Mr. Knight were Trentyn
Graves, and Mr. Graves's mother, Julia Oliver. Appellant
thought that one of those passengers had "flipped [him]
off, " and he told his friend to follow them. Mr. Knight
noticed that Appellant was waving around a gun as the friend
drove the car.
[¶6]
Appellant and his friend followed the other vehicle into the
parking lot of a grocery store. As Mr. Knight, Mr. Graves,
and Ms. Oliver walked into the store, they heard Appellant
hit his pistol against the windshield of Mr. Knight's
car. While holding a gun wrapped in a hooded sweatshirt,
Appellant demanded Mr. Knight give him the keys to his car.
Mr. Knight refused. Appellant unwrapped the sweatshirt to
reveal the pistol and again demanded the keys. Ms. Oliver
...