CASPER, Wyo. — The former Casper police officer sentenced to 21-26 years in prison for shooting at colleagues during a 16-hour standoff last year has hired a new lawyer to represent him in his Wyoming Supreme Court appeal.
Michael Scott Hughes, 31, was off duty and going through a divorce when he became an armed and barricaded suspect on August 22, 2024. According to the case facts discussed in court, the use of alcohol, exogenous testosterone, and ketamine occurred during and around the incident.
Hughes pleaded guilty to five counts of aggravated assault and battery for shooting out the window as the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team attempted to remove a curtain from his window.
He pleaded guilty in March, and District Attorney Dan Itzen agreed to limit his sentencing argument to no more than five years in prison on counts that would run concurrently. The five-year sentence Itzen recommended was consistent with many cases involving similar charges, as reported by Oil City News.
Judge Catherine Wilking conducted the counts consecutively.
At the Aug. 27 sentencing hearing, the woman who lived above Hughes and hid with her guests in the bathtub for three hours told Judge Wilking that she felt Hughes was getting special treatment and that NCSO investigators had dismissed her reports that the 10 mm bullets Hughes fired into his concrete ceiling had penetrated all the way to the carpet.
The notice of appeal was sent to Oil City News on Wednesday by Casper attorney Ryan Semerad, who is taking over the case from Trevor Schenk.
