Darrin Lee Starr v. State, 395 P.3d 180

On July 4, 2014, Darrin Starr drove away from a family dispute at a 4th of July party and, while driving erratically, struck Sam Trujillo with his vehicle.
Starr was charged with aggravated assault and battery (bodily injury with a weapon) and convicted by a jury; he received 2–4 years imprisonment.
At trial Starr testified he did not hit Trujillo "on purpose;" defense counsel argued the incident was an accident and sought acquittal on intent grounds (motion denied).
Defense counsel advised the court he would not request self-defense or defense-of-others instructions and instead pursued an accident theory; the court’s final instructions did not include accident or defense-of-others instructions.
After conviction Starr moved for a new trial claiming ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to request accident or defense-of-others instructions; the district court denied the Rule 21 motion and Starr appealed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether trial counsel was ineffective for failing to request an accident instruction or a defense-of-others instruction	Starr: counsel was deficient for not requesting either instruction, inconsistent with Starr's accident defense	State: counsel made a reasoned tactical choice to pursue accident theory; defense-of-others lacked evidentiary support; accident-instruction claim was not preserved below	Counsel was not ineffective; defense-of-others lacked evidentiary support and conflicted with trial strategy; accident-instruction claim waived at district court and therefore not considered on appeal

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (established two‑prong ineffective assistance standard)
Mraz v. State, 378 P.3d 280 (Wyo. 2016) (review of ineffective assistance claims as mixed questions; applying Strickland)
Leeper v. State, 589 P.2d 379 (Wyo. 1979) (recognizing defense of others and its elements)
Bouwkamp v. State, 833 P.2d 486 (Wyo. 1992) (defendant entitled to instruction only if timely, correct statement of law and supported by evidence)
Luftig v. State, 228 P.3d 857 (Wyo. 2010) (deference to counsel’s strategic choices and reconstruction of circumstances from counsel’s perspective)
Snow v. State, 270 P.3d 656 (Wyo. 2012) (counsel not ineffective for foregoing instructions inconsistent with defense theory)
Bloomquist v. State, 914 P.2d 812 (Wyo. 1996) (tactical choice to omit inconsistent instruction is not ineffective assistance)