The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed two aggravated-murder convictions, holding that abundant evidence allowed the jury to reject both perfect and imperfect self-defense.
The Utah Court of Appeals held that a parent need not subjectively appreciate the danger of intentional conduct when that conduct objectively creates an unreasonable risk of harm to a child.
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed a murder conviction because evidence permitted the jury to reject perfect and imperfect self-defense, and denied a rule 23B remand because undiscovered violence evidence was not tied to the defendant’s knowledge when he stabbed the victim.
The Utah Court of Appeals held that credible officer testimony established probable cause for a plain-view drug seizure despite missing body-camera footage and later inconclusive field testing.
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed an object-rape conviction because repeated accounts of the victim’s report added no new facts and caused no Strickland prejudice.
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed rape and aggravated-assault convictions, holding that counsel’s challenged evidentiary choices fit a coherent trial strategy.
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed child-sex-abuse convictions and mandatory life without parole, rejecting ineffective-assistance and state constitutional claims.
The Utah Court of Appeals reversed a DUI conviction because a late-night deadlock instruction coercively pressured minority jurors and defense counsel was ineffective for failing to object.
On remand, the Utah Court of Appeals held that Utah’s single-criminal-episode statute barred retrial and ordered dismissal on double-jeopardy grounds.
The Utah Court of Appeals rejected constitutional and discovery challenges to convictions based on an uncle’s position of special trust.
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed a murder conviction, finding overwhelming evidence that thirteen shots were retaliatory rather than justified defense.
The Utah Court of Appeals vacated an aggravated-assault conviction for insufficient evidence but affirmed sexual-abuse and object-rape convictions.
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed child-sex-abuse convictions while a concurrence criticized an unbalanced verdict-urging instruction.
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed rape and forcible-sodomy convictions, holding that an ambiguous reference to counsel did not end police questioning.
The Utah Court of Appeals declined to overrule State v. Heath and affirmed object-rape and sexual-abuse convictions against evidentiary and due-process challenges.
The Utah Court of Appeals held that negligent charging delay did not violate the Sixth Amendment where claimed parole and plea consequences were speculative.
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed child-sex-abuse and witness-tampering convictions, finding no material Brady violation or prejudicial attorney error.
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of a motion to suppress evidence seized in plain view during a traffic stop, holding that an officer’s probable cause determination was reasonable under the totality of the circumstances even though the detective’s body camera was not recording and subsequent field tests on the seized baggie returned negative or inconclusive results.