Ericka Smith

With longtime Park County and Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Skoric not expected to seek another term, one of his deputies has announced she’s running for the office.

“I think it’s important to continue the fiscal conservative [approach], protect the residents of Park County and Park County’s finances,” Ericka Smith, a deputy county prosecutor, said in a Monday interview. “I really do think Bryan [Skoric]’s done a really good job of protecting our community — and not just in law enforcement, but also how he handles community affairs.”

Smith has practiced law in Wyoming for 26 years, with experience ranging from criminal prosecutions and defense work to civil litigation. She moved to Park County from Cheyenne last summer to take the open deputy position in the Powell office. 

Smith visited the area before taking the job and “honestly, it was instant for both my boyfriend and I … like, God brought us to the right place,” she said, mentioning the area’s opportunities for camping, hunting and fishing. 

“Even though the job’s really challenging and busy, and sometimes [involves] unpleasant topics, I don’t have chaos here like I did in Cheyenne,” she said.

Legal background

The 51-year-old Republican has lived in the state since 1984 and obtained her law degree at the University of Wyoming.

She’s held a variety of positions in her career. That includes a brief stint as an assistant attorney general — handling criminal appeals and representing the Department of Corrections — and two stints as a prosecutor in the Laramie County District Attorney’s Office that totaled around four years.

Smith also spent roughly four years as a public defender in state court — representing defendants who couldn’t afford their own counsel — with additional court-appointed defense work in federal court and roughly 20 years worth of private defense work in both systems.

Her time in private practice includes tenures at her parents’ firm (they are both retired attorneys) and running her own firm in Cheyenne for about five years. Her civil casework has included defending medical malpractice litigation and large insurance claims, along with professional licensing defense.

Additionally, Smith worked at the Petroleum Association of Wyoming and, just before coming to Park County, served as an associate general counsel at UW. Her time at the university involved tasks like writing policy, reviewing contracts and handling liability issues — the kinds of tasks she said are a big part of the county attorney’s job.

Smith also pointed to past experience with HR issues, having supervised around 10 attorneys in the Laramie County District Attorney’s Office and managing employees at her own firm.

“Those things tend to come fairly natural for me,” she said.

Seeking collaboration

If elected as county attorney, Smith indicated she would seek to work collaboratively with other agencies and the community.

“Honestly, the amount of crime here has been surprising to me. But the response of all the law enforcement agencies is high quality,” she said. “And I know I can continue to keep those partnerships with law enforcement and we can all work hard to improve community safety, procedures that are in place, that sort of thing.”

She said she’s worked to rebuild relationships between the county attorney’s Powell office and law enforcement, the Department of Family Services and the public.

“We’ve created a good working environment,” she said.

Smith mentioned that she’s seen a lot of issues with schooling and juvenile delinquency.

“It seems like Covid had a huge impact on those kids and their families,” she said. “And we really need to, like, pull together as a community to help these families.”

Internally, Smith said she would like to have the county attorney’s office — which has locations at the courthouse Cody and at the annex in Powell — function as more of one unified office.

“I don’t know if that’s doable, but I really think it would help,” she said.

Smith is the only candidate to announce a run for the office so far. 

Skoric declined to comment on his plans this week, but has previously indicated that his current term would be his last. He has held the position since early 2003.