Suspect in child’s murder charged with assaulting deputies

CJ Baker Powell Tribune Via Wyoming News Exchange
Posted 12/21/21

POWELL — While awaiting a trial on a count of first-degree murder, authorities say a Cody woman fought with deputies at the Park County Detention Center.

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Suspect in child’s murder charged with assaulting deputies

Posted

POWELL — While awaiting a trial on a count of first-degree murder, authorities say a Cody woman fought with deputies at the Park County Detention Center. 

Last week, prosecutors charged Carolyn Aune with two counts of felony interference with a peace officer, alleging she injured or attempted to injure two detention deputies earlier this month. 

Aune, who is 29, has been incarcerated since April on allegations that she and Moshe Williams, 30, fatally abused his 2-year-old daughter. Paisleigh Williams died in early April after suffering what medical professionals described as some kind of forceful “gut punch.” In interviews with police at the time, both Aune and Williams denied abusing the girl and cast suspicion on each other. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to counts of murder. 

The new case against Aune stems from the morning of Dec. 9, after she reportedly became upset when no staffers were available to clean up some water she’d spilled in a common area of the jail. When Park County Sheriff’s Deputy Corey Zubik suggested Aune wipe up the water herself with a towel or hand cloth, Zubik says he was “met with obscene language, threatening to kick my a— while requesting a grievance.” Aune was told to lock down in her cell, but she refused and appeared to be gearing up for a fight, the charging documents say. Zubik wrote in a report that he physically “directed” Aune into the cell by placing his open hands on her arm and shoulder, but once inside, “she began to attack me by pushing, shoving and attempting to slap me.” 

With the assistance of Deputy Joe Commins, they put Aune on the ground, where she allegedly kicked Commins in the chest and face multiple times. 

“She did not seem very fond of anyone in law enforcement and made multiple threats to ‘f— us pigs up,’” Commins wrote in an affidavit. Aune was ultimately handcuffed and escorted to a holding cell without further incident, the affidavit says. 

At Aune’s initial Friday appearance on the new interference charges, Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Jack Hatfield suggested that, since Aune is already being held on a $1 million bond in the murder case, there was no need for an additional cash bond in the new case. However, Aune’s court-appointed defense attorney, Travis Smith, objected to Hatfield’s request for a so-called O.R. bond; Smith said it was an attempt to prevent the time Aune is currently serving in jail from counting toward any sentence she might be ordered to serve for the altercation with the deputies. 

“The state is, I guess, beyond the rule to just ask for an O.R. [bond] — which they would never ask for any other circumstances with these allegations of bodily injury to law enforcement officers,” Smith argued. 

He asked Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah to set bond at the nominal amount of $100, “to avoid [Aune] spinning her wheels and not getting credit for being incarcerated on these two charges.”

Hatfield countered that the issue of credit for time served was not a proper consideration in setting bond, but Judge Darrah sided with Smith and put bail at $100. 

A preliminary hearing in the case is tentatively scheduled for Thursday. As for the murder case, it’s set to go to trial on March 7.