Dennis Randolph Parkhurst and Derrick Raymond Parkhurst, Appellants (defendants) v. the State of Wyoming, Appellee…

Summary

The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed the Parkhurst brothers' convictions for first-degree murder and assault and battery with felonious intent, holding that the roadside stop was a reasonable investigative detention requiring less than probable cause, that the vehicle owner's consent to the trunk search was voluntary under the totality of the circumstances and also defeated the passenger's Fourth Amendment claim, that Miranda warnings were not required during an investigative stop, and that an officer's testimony that 'some questions were answered, some weren't' was a mere reference to silence rather than the reversible 'comment' condemned by Clenin. The court also adopted the Rakas legitimate-expectation-of-privacy standing test for the first time, holding both brothers had standing to challenge the seizure of their persons and the trunk search. Chief Justice Rose specially concurred, agreeing with all four results but supplying his own reasoning and observing that contrary conclusions on the gun-pointing, custody, and silence issues were plausible.