Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-503

Child abuse; penalty

Applied in 10 court decisions — leading case Kamie Lynn Hultberg v. The State of Wyoming (2024)

Most recently applied in Cheri Lynn Marler v. The State of Wyoming (October 2025)

How often courts cite this section

2021202550
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(a) A person who is not responsible for a child's welfare as defined by W.S. 14-3-202(a)(i), is guilty of child abuse, a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than ten (10) years, if:

(i) The actor is an adult or is at least six (6) years older than the victim; and (ii) The actor intentionally or recklessly inflicts upon a child under the age of sixteen (16) years:

(A) Physical injury as defined in W.S. 14-3-202(a)(ii)(B);

(B) Mental injury as defined in W.S. 14-3-202(a)(ii)(A); or (C) Torture or cruel confinement.

(b) A person is guilty of child abuse, a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than ten (10) years, if a person responsible for a child's welfare as defined in W.S. 14-3-202(a)(i) intentionally or recklessly inflicts upon a child under the age of eighteen (18) years:

(i) Physical injury as defined in W.S. 14-3-202(a)(ii)(B), excluding reasonable corporal punishment;

(ii) Mental injury as defined in W.S. 14-3-202(a)(ii)(A); or (iii) Torture or cruel confinement.

(c) Aggravated child abuse is a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than twenty-five (25) years if in the course of committing the crime of child abuse, as defined in subsection (a) or (b) of this section, the person intentionally or recklessly inflicts serious bodily injury upon the victim or the person intentionally inflicts substantial mental or emotional injury upon the victim by the torture or cruel confinement of the victim.

Official source: Wyoming Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Wyoming statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.