Bush v. State (2008)

In Bush v. State, 2008 WY 108, 193 P.3d 203, 214 (Wyo. 2008), cert. denied, 556 U.S. 1185, 129 S. Ct. 1985, 173 L. Ed. 2d 1090 (2009), the defendant was charged with first-degree murder of his wife, and on the eighth day of his trial, the State requested the court's permission to call, via video conference, a witness who, a week before, had suffered congestive heart failure and was therefore unable to travel to Wyoming from Colorado. The court initially denied the request, but later revised its decision in light of its subsequent review of the witness's medical records and the physician's advice not to travel to Wyoming. Id. at 215. On appeal, the Supreme Court of Wyoming concluded, after applying the Craig standard, that the trial court did not err in granting the request because the witness's "testimony via video conference was necessary to further the important public policy of preventing further harm to his already serious medical condition." Id. at 215-16.