TUESDAY, August 18, 2026|
Photo – Savoil Saint Jean mugshot – Courtesy CCSO
The Wyoming Supreme Court is considering Savoil Saint Jean’s appeal of his conviction for killing a Memorial Hospital EMT and severely injuring another.
In the early morning hours of December 21st, 2022, Haitian‑born commercial truck driver Saviol Saint Jean was traveling westbound on Interstate 80 when he crashed into the back of a Memorial Hospital of Carbon County ambulance. EMTs Tyeler Harris and Tiffany Gruetzmacher were responding to an earlier call when the incident occurred. Harris was killed, and Gruetzmacher was critically injured.
Last September, Saint Jean was convicted by a Sweetwater County jury of aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated assault and battery, along with a misdemeanor for failing to move over for the ambulance and he was sentenced to up to 14 years in prison.
On July 1st, attorneys for Saint Jean filed a brief of appellant with the Wyoming Supreme Court to overturning his conviction. In the document, attorneys argued that there was not sufficient evidence for the jury to conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Saint Jean acted recklessly on that December morning.
In the appeal documents, the driver’s attorneys argued that the evidence presented at trial was not sufficient for the jury to conclude that Harris’s death resulted from Saint Jean acting recklessly. They wrote that the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk. The attorneys also said jurors overlooked the steps Saint Jean took to avoid the crash, including slowing down when he saw the ambulance lights. Instead, they contend that he simply misjudged the ambulance’s location because of a glare on his windshield and could not stop in time.
The Wyoming Attorney General’s office disagrees. On August 14th, Senior Assistant Attorney General Kristen R. Jones filed a counter brief stating that during his trial, Saint Jean argued that the “chaotic scene” on I‑80 and his inability to perceive where the ambulance was located meant that he did not act recklessly. Jones contested that statement, writing that Saint Jean testified he saw the ambulance go by and the emergency lights farther down the road. She said he admitted he couldn’t tell where the ambulance was, but assumed it was on the right, and moved over without reducing his speed. The Assistant Attorney General added that other drivers slowed enough to stop if needed because they also could not fully understand the scene ahead.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Jones wrote that evidence presented at Saint Jean’s trial established that the driver perceived the risk of collision and harm to others and chose to disregard that risk. She asked the Wyoming Supreme Court to affirm Saint Jean’s convictions and sentences.
Yesterday, the Wyoming Supreme Court issued a Notice of Case Maturity, meaning all required briefs have been filed and the matter is now ready for review. An internal decision on whether the justices will hear the case or decide it on the written filings will be made within two weeks. A court date will be scheduled within two months if the case is placed on the Oral Argument docket, where attorneys from both sides argue in person before the justices.
