Riverton teen convicted of attempted murder
By Martin Reed
Staff Writer

A jury in Lander took about 80 minutes on Thursday to find a Riverton teenager guilty of several felonies, including attempted murder for stabbing a man in the back on Christmas night.
Brodey A. Burnett, who was 18 at the time of the attack, faces between 20 years and life in prison for his conviction on second-degree attempted murder.
Additionally, jurors found him guilty of two counts of aggravated assault that each carry a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison. Sentencing is not scheduled.
The Fremont County Attorney’s Office charged Burnett with attacking a man following a party on Christmas night by stabbing him in the back with a knife.
Willie Wheeler, who was 22 and living in Lander when he was stabbed, died three times during the air ambulance trip to Casper following the incident that happened in front of a Riverton home.
Fremont County Attorney Brian Varn said in an interview on Friday the conviction is good sign, “Especially in the face of all the violence that we’ve really kind of suffered through at the felony level this year.”
Varn hopes it sends the message that “we’re going to hammer back at the criminals that elevate to this level.”
Handling the prosecution during the trial that started on Tuesday afternoon were deputy county attorneys Kathy Kavanagh and Alexandra Cervenka.
Burnett’s defense attorney, Dan Caldwell III of Lander, did not return a phone message left at his office Friday morning.
The question raised by the attorneys on the trial’s first day for jurors was whether Burnett’s actions represented aggression or self-defense.
Burnett “on the night of December 25th was angry. He was resentful and possibly seeking revenge for an earlier incident,” Kavanagh said during opening arguments.
“The defendant was not acting in self-defense. He was the aggressor in this case,” Kavanagh said.
Caldwell said Burnett pulled a knife thinking he was being attacked by two individuals.
“The question ultimately is going to be is this self defense” or an aggressive act by Burnett, he said.
According to a statement by Riverton Detective Julie Etter accompanying the charges filed Dec. 30, police tracked footprints in snow to a home where Burnett’s mother lives after the stabbing.
Police found Burnett asleep in the home’s basement on a couch next to a table that had two knives, one of which had what appeared to be blood as well as Burnett’s tribal identification card clipped to it.
During the first day of trial, Wheeler and his brother testified about their version of what happened the night of the attack.
Wheeler said he and his younger brother, Beau, had traveled to Jackson to snowboard on Christmas day and attended a party that night after returning to Riverton.
He and his brother attended the party with two women and decided to leave about midnight to drop off one car in Riverton and take another to Lander, Wheeler testified.
Burnett approached Beau Wheeler and one of the women about getting a ride to Lander to continue partying, the brother testified.
Both brothers knew Burnett from an earlier encounter at a party in Lander where troubled occurred. “Problems did arise,” Willie Wheeler said about the previous encounter with Burnett.
Willie Wheeler and one woman drove in a car while his brother and the other woman drove in another vehicle to a Riverton home. “Beau parked the car in front of the house,” Wheeler testified. “I pulled up next” to the parked car in the street.
As one woman went inside the home and Beau went around to get into his brother’s car, Burnett started pounding on the vehicle’s rear windows, Willie Wheeler said.
“‘I’ll show you how we roll in my hood,’” Wheeler recalled Burnett saying that included profanity.
Wheeler exited his vehicle and went to the back of the vehicle and gave his brother his jacket in preparation to fight Burnett, he said.
Burnett “pulled a knife” from his front pocket and “held it in his hand,” Wheeler said, adding the action caused him to “put my hands up, told Mr. Burnett we don’t need to do anything stupid tonight.”
Wheeler went to the driver’s side passenger door to get a flashlight from the vehicle for defense, he said. Wheeler then heard a woman scream and he felt what he thought was a punch to his back.
He and his brother then got into the vehicle as Burnett pursued them with the knife before they drove away from the scene, Wheeler said.
“At that point did you know you had been stabbed?” Kavanagh asked.
“I didn’t,” Wheeler replied.
After driving about 500 or 600 feet, Wheeler began coughing up blood. He got out of the vehicle and collapsed to the ground.
“I started feeling a real sharp pain in my back, a hard time breathing,” he said, telling the jury about getting to Riverton Memorial Hospital at about 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 26.
During cross-examination, Caldwell questioned Wheeler about carrying a pistol. “Isn’t it true sometimes you carry a pistol?” he asked.
“No, sir,” Wheeler responded.
Caldwell asked about a gun in a truck Wheeler was driving when police arrested him for driving under the influence in April. “There was a pistol and rifle in my roommate’s truck,” Wheeler said about the arrest.
Kavanagh asked Wheeler if he or his brother had any weapons the night of the stabbing. “No, ma’am,” he responded.
Wheeler said there was no agreement with Burnett to fight. “It was never agreed between the two of us,” he said.
Beau Wheeler’s recollection of the events matched his brother’s leading up to the stabbing. “I saw him raise his hand with a knife and stab my brother in the back,” he testified about Burnett’s actions.