Jury finds Herrera guilty on four counts

Friday evening in Hot Springs District Court, a jury found Holly Herrera guilty on three counts of child endangerment — exposure to methamphetamine — and one count of possession of a controlled substance.

The charges stem from a July 1, 2017 incident, after a vehicle in which Herrera was a passenger was stopped for not having illumination on its rear license plate. Herrera was located inside the vehicle, along with three juveniles, a small amount of meth and various paraphernalia.

During opening arguments of the trial, prosecuting attorney, Marcia Bean, said the jury would hear testimony from Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper, Beatriz Regina Schulmeister, who conducted the traffic stop. Schulmeister would lead the jury through the reasons why she initiated a stop on the vehicle, as well as the procedures she used to identify the vehicle occupants and do a search of the vehicle.

During the arguments, Bean noted the jury would hear of how Schulmeister would find a bag, later described as a cosmetics bag, in the rear row of seats, where Herrera also was. Inside that bag was a pipe that could be used for smoking methamphetamine.

Defense attorney, Dan Caldwell III, stated there were no prints or DNA evidence taken at the scene which showed the bag actually belong to Herrera. Caldwell further added there were times during the stop when an occupant of the vehicle is not being closely observed, and suggested that occupant could’ve put the pipe inside the bag.

Caldwell intended to prove Herrera was not knowingly in possession of the drug, which is one of the elements of the child endangerment charges.

During the trial, Trooper Schulmeister testified that during her shift, which ran from the afternoon of June 30, 2017, to the early hours the following morning, she was in her southward-facing patrol unit on Highway 20 near the base of what is commonly referred to as Hospital Hill. During that time, she observed a northbound Chevy Cobalt go by her.

Looking in her rearview mirror, Schulmeister said, she noticed there was no light on the vehicle’s rear license plate. She further turned her head to observe the plate and later followed the vehicle, turning of her unit’s headlights briefly to prevent any interference.

Confirming the plate had no light, she waited until both vehicles were past the hill and in a safe, open area — near mile marker 135 — before initiating the stop. She asked for the typical identification papers during a stop — license, registration, proof of insurance — but the occupants didn’t produce anything and were acting nervous. However, Schulmeister recognized the driver as Christopher Decker, and noted there were young children in the vehicle as well.

As the car had only temporary tags and no plates to run, Schulmeister asked a female occupant, later identified as Herrera, for her name and birthdate. However, Herrera provided false information numerous times.

Schulmeister also found that another occupant of the vehicle, Derek Fyffe, had a warrant out for his arrest. She called for backup and Hot Springs County Deputy Jeremie Kraushaar responded. However, it was found that the warrant was actually for Fyffe’s brother, though Kraushaar remained at the scene to assist.

Finally receiving a title for the vehicle, it was found Herrera owned it. Kraushaar searched for the name on Facebook, and one of the profiles that came up matched Herrera, who also had a warrant out for her and was arrested for interference with an officer.

Schulmeister said she requested the occupants to exit the vehicle and proceeded with an inventory search of the vehicle, noting this is procedure to ensure everything in a vehicle they expect to tow is there when it’s returned. During that search, the trooper located a small baggy with a white, powdery substance between the driver’s seat and the door. Based on her training, she said, the substance appeared to be meth and Decker, the driver, was arrested.

Continuing with the inventory search, Schulmeister further found a bag containing syringes that might be used for insulin in the glove box. The trooper said they could also be used to inject meth. She further testified she didn’t seize the bag as evidence, as the state crime lab is no longer taking syringes from seizures, and the bag was still sealed.

Also during the search, Schulmeister said, she also observed a cosmetics bag on the floor in the rear seat area of the vehicle. The trooper called it a cosmetics bag based on its general contents, though she also located an item wrapped in a paper towel, which turned out to be a glass pipe with some residue that appeared to be meth. A small torch was also found. The baggy and pipe were seized and later field tested at the Worland Highway Patrol Office and were presumptive positive for meth, so they were sent on to the state crime lab. The amount of material in the baggy was also weighed, Schulmeister said, and was about one gram.

Under questioning by Caldwell, Schulmeister testified that the adult occupants were asked to get out of the vehicle, though Fyffe was not searched while he was out. While she checked on Fyffe to determine if he was making major movements that might indicate he was bringing out a weapon, Schulmeister said there was nobody watching his every movement.

A large part of the evidence presented in the trial was in video form, from both Schulmeister’s in-vehicle camera and Kraushaar’s body camera. Caldwell noted in the video there are times when Fyffe is throwing items to Decker while the latter is outside the vehicle. Among the items are cigarettes, a shirt and an unknown item. Caldwell also pointed out that, at one point, Fyffe is the only adult subject in the vehicle.

A BLM ranger was also called to the scene, Schulmeister testified, and while he is there the officers are all walking around the vehicle but there is nobody standing by and watching Fyffe, who also had a backpack that was not searched immediately.

Schulmeister also testified she found no other paraphernalia consistent with the use of meth, and there was no identification in the cosmetic bag and nothing was checked for prints or DNA evidence. Also, Herrera never admitted she knew the pipe and baggy were in the vehicle.

In a redirect from Bean, Schulmeister testified that one of the conditions of Herrera’s warrant is that she had to provide a urine sample. Though attempts were made to do so, Schulmeister said Herrera was tampering with the collection equipment. The trooper also testified the identification found in the vehicle showed it belonged to Herrera and nobody else, and there was nothing in the cosmetics bag to indicate it belonged to another person.

Following the evidence presented by Bean, the State of Wyoming rested. There were no witnesses for the defense due to their declining to testify and procedural issues.

Sentencing will be set for a later date, and Herrera faces a maximum penalty of 16 years in prison.