Stephanie Hambrick

Stephanie A. Hambrick has been appointed as the new magistrate judge in Mammoth Hot Springs within Yellowstone National Park. She replaces former Magistrate Judge Mark L. Carman, who recently retired from the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming.

Born and raised in Wyoming, Hambrick received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Wyoming in 1991 and earned her juris doctorate degree from the UW College of Law in 1994.

In private practice in Casper, she focused on areas of personal injury work, criminal and family law matters. She has served as an assistant Wyoming state public defender, an assistant district attorney for Natrona County and most recently, as an assistant U.S. attorney based in Casper. Hambrick handled the prosecution of crimes committed in Yellowstone. Last year, for example, she prosecuted multiple high profile cases in the park — including an Illinois woman who got dangerously close to a grizzly sow and her cubs, a Utah man who dug up parts of the historic Fort Yellowstone in a search for the Fenn treasure and two East Coast visitors who left the boardwalk and entered a thermal area in the Norris Geyser Basin.

In her new role on the bench, Hambrick will now be in charge of deciding the fates of those who commit misdemeanor offenses in Yellowstone.

In a news release, district court officials described the magistrate judge’s duties as “demanding and wide-ranging.” They include: conducting preliminary proceedings in criminal cases and all proceedings in misdemeanor cases; conducting settlement conferences and non-dispositive proceedings in civil cases when asked by a district judge. Magistrates can also handle the entirety of a civil case if the parties agree.

Chief Judge Scott W. Skavdahl administered the oath of office to Judge Hambrick on April 11.