Criminal – Case Law Wire

Court of Appeals of Utah

American Fork City v. Barbour — Nail-Biting During Baker Observation Period Required Clock Reset, Making Trial Counsel Ineffective for Not Moving to Suppress Breath Test

/ July 18, 2026

The Utah Court of Appeals vacated a DUI conviction and remanded for a new trial, holding that trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to move to suppress a breath test after bodycam footage showed the defendant biting his fingernails continuously for over two minutes during the Baker pre-test observation period — a question of first impression establishing that fingernail contact constitutes introduction of a foreign object requiring the Baker clock to restart.

Utah Criminal Evidence Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

Court of Appeals of Utah

Uncategorized

State v. Canal-Medina — Utah Rule 404(c) Requires No Similarity Between Prior Child Molestation Acts and Charged Offense

/ July 11, 2026

The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed a conviction for aggravated sexual abuse of a child, holding that Utah Rule of Evidence 404(c) requires no similarity between prior child molestation acts and the charged offense for propensity evidence to be admissible, and that trial counsel was not ineffective for retaining a juror whose troubling statements during voir dire were followed by an audible chuckle and an express affirmation of the presumption of innocence.

Utah Constitutional Criminal search-and-seizure

Court of Appeals of Utah

Uncategorized

State v. Saunders — Plain View Probable Cause Survives Absent Body Camera and Negative Field Tests

/ July 11, 2026

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.

Utah Criminal Criminal Procedure domestic-violence

Court of Appeals of Utah

Uncategorized

Bluffdale City v. Verive — Brief Physical Impediment of a Preferred Exit Satisfies Utah’s Unlawful Detention Statute

/ July 4, 2026

The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed Aaron Verive’s four class B misdemeanor convictions for unlawful detention and domestic violence in the presence of a child, holding that momentarily blocking a preferred exit—whether a doorway or a vehicle—satisfies the unlawful detention statute regardless of duration or alternative routes, and that events immediately following the charged acts were intrinsic evidence outside Rule 404(b)’s other-acts exclusion.

Utah Criminal Criminal Procedure Evidence

Court of Appeals of Utah

Uncategorized

State v. Talbert — Utah Court of Appeals Rejects Variance, Rule 404(b), and Ineffective-Assistance Challenges to Sexual Abuse Convictions

/ June 27, 2026

The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed six sexual-abuse convictions, holding that uncharged grooming conduct is admissible as intrinsic evidence outside Rule 404(b), that a charging variance between the information and the acts proven at trial raises sufficiency and notice issues—not jurisdictional ones—and that failure to seek a trial continuance upon discovering the variance waives procedural-due-process claims.

Utah Criminal Criminal Procedure Evidence

Court of Appeals of Utah

Uncategorized

State v. Kent — Utah Court of Appeals Affirms Enticement Conviction Despite Undercover Officer’s Adult Photos and Voice

/ June 27, 2026

The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed a child enticement conviction, holding that the sufficiency-of-evidence inquiry is subjective—asking whether this defendant believed the persona was a minor—and that entrapment as a matter of law requires more than a realistic undercover persona; here, the defendant’s own texts and statements showed actual knowledge of the victim’s age and independent criminal initiative.