State v. Vance — Retaining stolen property is a continuing offense
The Utah Court of Appeals held that retaining stolen property can continue until possession ends, making the prosecution of a stolen skid steer timely.
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Criminal
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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
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.
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State v. Canal-Medina — Utah Rule 404(c) Requires No Similarity Between Prior Child Molestation Acts and Charged Offense
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.
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State v. Saunders — Plain View Probable Cause Survives Absent Body Camera and Negative Field Tests
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.
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Bluffdale City v. Verive — Brief Physical Impediment of a Preferred Exit Satisfies Utah’s Unlawful Detention Statute
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.
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State v. Talbert — Utah Court of Appeals Rejects Variance, Rule 404(b), and Ineffective-Assistance Challenges to Sexual Abuse Convictions
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.
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State v. Kent — Utah Court of Appeals Affirms Enticement Conviction Despite Undercover Officer’s Adult Photos and Voice
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.
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State v. Perez — Jurors’ Brief Hands in Voir Dire Did Not Compel For-Cause Removal; Ineffective Assistance Claim Fails
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed convictions for aggravated burglary and related charges, holding that trial counsel was not ineffective in declining to challenge for cause three jurors who raised their hands to leading voir dire questions and then affirmed their ability to follow jury instructions in response to the prosecutor’s follow-up.
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State v. Curwick — Medical Evidence Plus UOVC Documentation Suffices to Establish Restitution Causation for Victim’s Mother
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed a restitution order for an aggravated kidnapping victim’s mother, holding that a medical form attributing her PTSD to the crime, her own written statements, and a UOVC restitution specialist’s declaration—taken together—provided sufficient evidence of proximate causation for her lost wages.
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Miranda v. State — Post-Conviction Court Erroneously Presumed Prejudice From Unanimity Instruction Failure; Convictions Reinstated
The Utah Court of Appeals reversed a grant of post-conviction relief, holding that the post-conviction court improperly applied the Chadwick presumption of prejudice to an ineffective-assistance claim; under Strickland, Miranda failed to show a reasonable probability that a proper unanimity instruction would have changed the verdict.
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State v. Collard — Convictions Reversed After Counsel Failed to Redact Domestic-Violence Finding from Protective Order Exhibit
The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed denial of a motion to arrest judgment on protective-order-violation convictions — holding that the State sufficiently proved the permanent order’s terms through testimony and a docket entry — but reversed all three convictions on ineffective-assistance grounds because defense counsel failed to seek redaction of a domestic-violence finding in the temporary protective order admitted as a trial exhibit, a finding the court had already ruled irrelevant and whose admission undermined confidence in the verdict.