Volpi v. State, 419 P.3d 884

On June 27, 2015, Jonathan Volpi assaulted his girlfriend A.M. during and after leaving a party: grabbing keys, attacking her outside, throwing her phone, stuffing dog feces in her mouth, pinning and suffocating her, holding a knife to her throat, and driving her toward a distant location before police stopped them; Volpi was arrested.
Charged with multiple offenses including strangulation of a household member, domestic battery, two counts of kidnapping (removal and confinement), interference with an officer, destruction of property, possession of a controlled substance, and aggravated assault (acquitted on aggravated assault).
Before trial the State sought admission of two prior uncharged incidents of domestic violence under W.R.E. 404(b); the court admitted them (excluding drug evidence) and gave a limiting instruction; Volpi objected and appealed that ruling.
After a three-day jury trial Volpi was convicted on most counts; sentencing gave concurrent misdemeanor terms, a consecutive term for strangulation, and two kidnapping sentences (intended to run concurrently by oral pronouncement but the written judgment made them consecutive to each other).
Volpi appealed raising: (1) abuse of discretion in admitting 404(b) evidence; (2) double jeopardy from two kidnapping convictions; and (3) double jeopardy from convictions for both strangulation and domestic battery.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Volpi)	Held
Admission of 404(b) uncharged misconduct	Prior incidents show victim’s state of mind, continuity of relationship, intent/motive/plan	Admission was improper propensity evidence; court failed to make conditional rulings and didn’t articulate Gleason balancing	Court abused discretion in admitting 404(b) evidence (rulings insufficient), but error was harmless on the record — conviction stands
Two kidnapping convictions	Two distinct kidnappings occurred: removal/confinement earlier and a later removal to car after a short interval	Only one continuing kidnapping; multiple convictions punish same offense	Convictions violate double jeopardy as only one continuing kidnapping supported; second kidnapping conviction reversed
Separate convictions: strangulation and domestic battery	Separate acts (one outside at car; one inside pinning/suffocation) support separate convictions	Domestic battery is a lesser-included of strangulation — cannot punish both for same act	No plain error; convictions affirmed because prosecution tied charges to separate acts and Volpi failed to show they were based on the same incident
Sentencing inconsistency between oral pronouncement and written judgment	N/A (issue noted)	N/A	Majority did not remedy due to reversal of second kidnapping; dissent noted written sentence should be corrected to reflect oral pronouncement

Dougherty v. State, 373 P.3d 427 (Wyo. 2016) (standard: 404(b) ruling reviewed for abuse of discretion)
Wease v. State, 170 P.3d 94 (Wyo. 2007) (danger and exclusionary principle for other-acts evidence)
Gleason v. State, 57 P.3d 332 (Wyo. 2002) (Gleason test and required articulated balancing for 404(b))
Moore v. State, 80 P.3d 191 (Wyo. 2003) (prior assaults on same victim admissible to explain victims’ lack of escape and corroborate credibility)
Garrison v. State, 409 P.3d 1209 (Wyo. 2018) (course-of-conduct rationale for 404(b) must be tied to a legitimate purpose such as identity or motive)
Solis v. State, 315 P.3d 622 (Wyo. 2013) (presumption against multiple punishments where statute lists alternatives in the disjunctive)
Drakeford v. State, 402 P.3d 980 (Wyo. 2017) (domestic battery is a lesser included offense of strangulation of a household member)
Hawes v. State, 368 P.3d 879 (Wyo. 2016) (double jeopardy protects against multiple punishments for the same offense)
Triplett v. State, 406 P.3d 1257 (Wyo. 2017) (defendant waives certain specificity issues by not raising them before trial)
Cecil v. State, 364 P.3d 1086 (Wyo. 2015) (distinguishing improper convictions where an uncharged lesser offense cannot stand when inconsistent with charged greater offense)