Boak Announces Candidacy for Laramie County District Attorney
With her husband by her side, Cheyenne attorney Lynn Boak announced her candidacy for Laramie County District Attorney outside of the courthouse this (Tuesday) morning.
A Democrat, the 67-year-old Boak received her J.D. from the University of Denver and has been practicing law for 39 years.
"I always intended from the very first day of law school to be a prosecutor," said Boak. "My first job out of law school, after a brief detour into water law which bored me half to death, was at the Denver District Attorney's Office and I loved my job."
Boak, who's called Wyoming home for 35 years, went on to clerk for the late Judge James Barrett and worked as an IRS lawyer before founding her Cheyenne law firm.
If elected, she says her biggest challenge will be to make sure that "the charges are appropriate for the crime."
"I follow what's going on in the criminal courts and I don't understand some of the charges that have been filed," said Boak. "I don't think I would have done it that way."
"I think it's more important to charge the person with a crime that is appropriate and that you can prove beyond a reasonable doubt," she added. "If you overcharge someone you're not doing the right thing."
So far, Boak and Republican Leigh Anne Grant Manlove are the only candidates who've announced their running for DA. Incumbent Jeremiah Sandburg, who was elected in 2014, announced last month that he would not be seeking reelection.