Coletti v. State

In Coletti v. State, 769 P.2d 361, 362 (Wyo. 1989), the Court held that merely because an ex parte contact might be censurable, it does not automatically require reversal and remand. In Coletti, it was established that the district court had received an ex parte communication from a deputy sheriff containing information that was designed to supplement an incomplete presentence report. However, in that case we gave recognition to the rule that where a matter is tried to the court sitting without a jury, as well as in a circumstance where the court is pronouncing sentence, a presumption exists that the court will not be misled or confused by what is irrelevant and is able to eliminate that which is immaterial from that which properly may be considered. Coletti, 769 P.2d at 363. In addition, in Coletti we took into account the fact that the district court categorically disavowed that any use had been made of the ex parte communication. Id.