What was set to be the Park County District Court’s first trial since the onset of the pandemic was called off before it could begin.

Six jurors were selected Monday to hear a dispute over a 2015 car crash in Powell. However, Judge Bill Simpson declared a mistrial on Tuesday, after the spouse of a staffer for one of the attorneys in the case tested positive for COVID-19, said Park County Clerk of District Court Patra Lindenthal. 

The trial in the more than two-year-old suit — which was set to last all week — must now be rescheduled. 

Monday’s jury selection marked only the second time since March 2020 that attorneys, parties and the public have been allowed inside the district courtroom in Cody. As part of precautions aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19, hearings have generally been conducted via video conferencing for more than a year and a half.

The case set to be tried this week relates to a crash that occurred in March 2015 at the intersection of Avenue E and Tower Boulevard/Road 10. According to what Powell police said at the time, a southbound Chevy pickup driven by Matthew Hayek went through a stop sign and crashed into a white Volvo SUV being driven by Kianna Shaffer. Shaffer’s vehicle was knocked off the road, hit a city power box, crashed through a fence and finally collided with a home and its gas meter.

In a pretrial memorandum, Shaffer’s attorney, Laurence Stinson of Cody, described Hayek as “a distracted driver who failed to pay attention to a highly visible stop sign,” and called the crash both violent and devastating for his client.

Shaffer, who was wearing her seat belt, says she suffered severe whiplash and a concussion in the crash and continues to deal with headaches and pain in her neck, shoulder, hip and ribs. She also says she suffers from PTSD, anxiety and depression as a result of the incident. Shaffer’s seeking an unspecified amount of damages.

Hayek’s attorney, Zenith Ward of Cheyenne, initially filed an answer denying that his client caused the crash before admitting it last week. However, there are other issues for a jury to sort out. For instance, Ward wrote in a filing last month that “there are numerous facts that call seriously into question [Shaffer’s] claims” about her injuries. He’s suggested in filings that some of the medical issues could have been preexisting or unrelated to the crash.

Efforts to settle the matter over the past couple of years were unsuccessful, which is why the parties arrived at the Park County Courthouse this week to present their arguments and evidence to a jury.

Under current guidance from the Wyoming Supreme Court, jury trials can only be held if: the court has a plan that meets certain guidelines, the presiding judge determines it can be held safely and juror health information is kept confidential.

While courts can hold in-person proceedings if they have a COVID-19 Operating Plan, “judges are encouraged to use telephonic or video technology for all other statutorily and/or constitutionally required hearings,” says a portion of the Supreme Court guidance.

Prior to this week, Judge Simpson had opened up his courtroom just one other time since the start of the pandemic. That came in April, when he heard a dispute between the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and a Thermopolis area rancher over the amount of money the state owed for cattle killed by grizzly bears; the rancher, Josh Longwell, and his attorney, Drake Hill of Cheyenne, specifically requested an in-person hearing, with Hill asking Simpson to assign the case to another judge if he wasn’t willing to do so.

The last trial held in Park County’s District Court took place in August 2019. With the overwhelming majority of cases resolved by settlement or plea agreements, it’s not uncommon for a year or two to pass between the court’s trials.