The Utah Court of Appeals upheld a guilty plea and concurrent prison terms, rejecting rule 11, ineffective-assistance, competency, illegal-sentence, and sentencing-discretion challenges.
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 held that a victim’s family relationship with an unassigned judge did not justify disqualifying the assigned judge or the entire county bench.
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 rejected most ineffective-assistance claims and a rule 23B motion, but ordered correction of a presentence report’s offense classification.
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of theft-by-deception charges because broken construction promises alone did not show deceptive intent when money was obtained.
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 held that a decades-late restitution judgment could not be justified as correction of a clerical error on the existing record.