The no-contact order lands before you have said a word. You are out of your house, away from your kids, and told not to speak to the one person who could clear this up. That happens in the first seventy-two hours — before anyone has weighed a shred of evidence. An accusation is not a conviction. The system just starts treating it like one.
Deep Waters Law defends domestic battery in Cheyenne, Laramie County, and across Wyoming. Before Francis McVay defended these cases, he charged them — as a Deputy County and Prosecuting Attorney in Park County. He knows what a domestic file looks like the morning it hits a prosecutor’s desk: which ones the State believes, and which ones it is quietly hoping you plead out before anyone reads the file twice.
Call (307) 333-7539. Consultations are free, and someone answers 24/7.
The first seventy-two hours decide more than the next three months
Here is what is happening while you are still absorbing the arrest:
- You are booked and held for an initial appearance in Laramie County Circuit Court, usually within twenty-four hours. Bond and its conditions are set there.
- A no-contact order attaches to your bond. This is not the same as a civil protection order — it is a condition of release, it usually covers your home, and violating it is a brand-new criminal charge, not a technicality. Even if the other person invites the contact.
- A victim-witness coordinator is taking the other side’s account down while it is fresh and emotions are highest.
- Body camera footage, 911 audio, and photographs exist right now. Some of it helps you. Some of it is erased on a retention schedule if nobody demands it in time.
- You are being invited to explain yourself. Don’t. Every word to an officer, to the complainant, or in a text you thought was private becomes evidence the State reads aloud.
The single most useful thing you can do in that window is put a lawyer between yourself and the machinery. The second is to preserve everything — messages, photos, medical records, the names of everyone in the room — and hand it to your lawyer, not to anyone else.
What the State actually has to prove
Under Wyo. Stat. § 6-2-511(a), a household member commits domestic battery by knowingly or recklessly causing bodily injury to another household member through physical force. Break that apart, because the State has to carry every piece:
Household member. A defined term from § 35-21-102 — broader than “spouse,” narrower than “anyone you know.” If the relationship does not fit, this is not a domestic charge, and the enhancement ladder and firearms consequences do not attach.
Bodily injury. Not fear. Not a raised voice. Not a slammed door. Actual physical injury, proven — usually by photographs, medical records, or an officer’s observations. Cases charged on an allegation with nothing to corroborate it are more common than people think.
By physical force. A causal link between your conduct and the injury.
Knowingly or recklessly. A mental state. An injury in a chaotic room — two people separating, someone stepping between others, a fall — is not automatically a crime.
Prosecutors charge domestic cases on thin proof more than any other misdemeanor, because charging is easy and declining is politically expensive. Holding the State to every element is not a formality here. It is frequently the whole case.
How a six-month misdemeanor becomes a ten-year felony
Wyoming grades domestic battery on prior history, and the lookback windows differ at each step. Under § 6-2-511(b):
| Offense | Maximum penalty | Lookback |
|---|---|---|
| First | Up to 6 months, up to $750, or both | No prior required |
| Second | Up to 1 year, up to $1,000, or both | A qualifying prior within 5 years |
| Third | Up to 10 years, up to $10,000, or both | Two or more qualifying priors within 10 years |
Read the third row again. A charge that began as a six-month misdemeanor becomes a ten-year felony exposure. That is not a slope — it is a cliff, and people walk off it because nobody explained the ladder back when the first case seemed small enough to just plead out.
Which priors count. Not only prior domestic batteries. Convictions for domestic assault (§ 6-2-510), simple assault, battery, aggravated assault and battery (§ 6-2-502), child abuse, reckless endangering, unlawful contact, strangulation of a household member (§ 6-2-509), kidnapping, felonious restraint, and false imprisonment all feed the enhancement — as do “substantially similar” laws of another state, tribe, or territory. A conviction from a tribal court or a state you left a decade ago can be the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony sentence.
Probation runs long. Under § 6-2-511(c), a first or second offense can carry probation longer than the maximum jail term — up to three years. A plea that sounds like “no jail” can mean three years of supervision and the constant risk of revocation. This is exactly why the first case matters most: it is the foundation of every sentence that could follow.
Strangulation is a separate felony
If the allegation involves hands on a neck, this stops being a misdemeanor conversation. Under § 6-2-509, strangulation of a household member is a felony punishable by up to ten years: intentionally and knowingly or recklessly causing or attempting to cause injury by impeding breathing or blood circulation — pressure to the throat or neck, or blocking the nose and mouth.
Two things the defense lives on, both widely misunderstood:
It reaches attempts. The State need not prove breathing was actually impeded, only an attempt to injure by that method. That is why these are charged even with no marks at all.
Which cuts both ways. When the physical evidence is thin, the case rests almost entirely on one person’s description of a few seconds during the worst moment of an argument — and that description is testable against the medical findings, the 911 call, and what was said before anyone knew a felony was on the table.
Two parallel tracks people miss
The protection order hearing
A civil protection order can run at the same time as the criminal case, in a different court, on a lower burden of proof, with its own hearing date — and what you say in that hearing can be used against you in the criminal case. People walk into these alone thinking it is the smaller problem. It is the one where the State gets a free preview of your defense and a transcript of your testimony. The two proceedings have to be coordinated.
The firearms consequence nobody mentions at arraignment
A qualifying misdemeanor domestic violence conviction can trigger a lifetime federal firearms ban under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9), and a qualifying protection order can trigger one under § 922(g)(8). In Wyoming this is not abstract. For a rancher, a hunter, a guide, a veteran, or anyone whose job requires a firearm, this outlasts and outweighs the sentence itself. It is federal, it attaches by operation of law, and no state judge can waive it in a plea. Any lawyer who negotiates a domestic plea without putting the firearms question in front of you first has not finished the job.
Defenses that actually work
Domestic cases are defended on the record, not on sympathy:
- Self-defense. The person the State calls the victim is not always the one who started it — and the officer’s quick call at the door is often driven by who was calmer when it opened. Wyoming has no duty to retreat.
- No bodily injury. If the State cannot prove actual physical injury, § 6-2-511 does not apply, whatever else happened.
- Wrong mental state. An injury during a mutual separation, a fall, or an attempt to leave is not knowing or reckless infliction.
- False or exaggerated allegation. Uncomfortable to say and entirely real. Custody disputes, divorce filings, and the wish to get someone out of a house all produce allegations. Timing is evidence.
- Recantation. When the complaining witness says it did not happen that way, the State often presses on anyway using the 911 call and the officer. There is real law about what the State may do with those statements. It is litigated, not assumed.
- The relationship does not fit the statute. If “household member” is not met, the domestic framework collapses.
- Suppression. Warrantless entry, unwarned statements, a search beyond its scope — evidence obtained improperly can be excluded, which sometimes ends the case.
Why the prosecutor’s chair matters here
Francis McVay charged these cases before he defended them, as a Deputy County and Prosecuting Attorney in Park County — misdemeanors, felonies, juvenile matters, and Title 25 proceedings. He knows which reports are complete and which are padded, where the State’s proof is thin, and what a prosecutor’s supervisor will actually approve when a case starts to wobble.
He then served as Senior Assistant Appellate Counsel with the Wyoming State Public Defender, where he argued Walker v. State, 2022 WY 158, before the Wyoming Supreme Court — and won a reversal of two felony convictions under plain error, the hardest standard in appellate law. Domestic cases turn on charging decisions and on the record. Few defense lawyers in Wyoming have stood in both chairs and then made law from the appellate one.
To catch a wolf, it takes a wolf.
Frequently asked questions
Can the charges be dropped if the alleged victim doesn’t want to press charges?
Not automatically. In Wyoming that decision belongs to the prosecutor, not the complaining witness. The State can and often does proceed without their cooperation, using the 911 recording, body camera footage, photographs, and the responding officer. A recantation matters — but it is a fact to be litigated, not a switch that ends the case.
Is domestic battery a felony in Wyoming?
A first or second offense is a misdemeanor. A third within ten years carries up to ten years under § 6-2-511(b)(iii). Strangulation of a household member under § 6-2-509 is a felony from the start.
Will I lose my right to own a firearm?
Potentially for life. A qualifying misdemeanor domestic violence conviction triggers a federal firearms ban under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9), and a qualifying protection order can trigger one under § 922(g)(8). It applies by federal law and cannot be waived by a state judge. Raise it before any plea, not after.
What if we were both fighting?
Mutual altercations are common, and officers frequently arrest only one person. Self-defense is a full defense in Wyoming, and who the State names as the victim is a charging decision, not a finding of fact.
Can I go home?
Usually not right away. A no-contact condition on your bond typically excludes you from a shared residence. It can be modified — but only through a motion to the court, never by private agreement. Contact arranged privately is a new criminal offense even if you were invited.
If an allegation has been made against you, the first call matters more than the last one. Reachable 24/7, including weekends. Office hours Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., closed noon to 1:00.
Call (307) 333-7539 or request a free consultation.
When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you.
Mr. McVay briefed and argued Walker v. State as Senior Assistant Appellate Counsel for the Wyoming State Public Defender. The matter was not handled by Deep Waters Law, L.L.C. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome in any other matter.
This page describes Wyoming law in general terms as of September 2026 and is not legal advice. Statutes and penalties change, and every case turns on its own facts. Contacting Deep Waters Law does not create an attorney-client relationship.