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The Casper Municipal Court has for years been illegally sentencing minors convicted of possessing alcohol to probation instead of the fine that is mandated by city code, according to court documents and interviews.

Minors found guilty of the charge were generally sentenced to six months of unsupervised probation and a fine up to $750, according to a document that Assistant City Attorney Gary Way wrote. But sentencing someone to probation for a charge of minor in possession violates city ordinances that limit sentencing to a fine, Natrona County District Judge Catherine Wilking said in her Oct. 7 order reversing the sentence for a young woman given probation.

“This Court finds that the ordinance clearly limits the penalty for violating the Casper MIP Ordinance to a fine — only — of not less than one hundred fifty dollars, nor more than seven hundred fifty dollars,” Wilking wrote in her decision.

City ordinances limit the maximum penalty for a charge of minor in possession committed in the city to a $750 fine and do not allow for incarceration or probation. City attorneys argued to Wilking that state law allows the municipal court to use probation as a sentence in minor-in-possession cases, though the judge disagreed.