Utah
A look back on Utah's last attempt to repeal the death penalty, and why it failed
SALT LAKE CITY — On Thursday, one minute after midnight, the state of Utah plans to carry out its first execution by lethal injection in more than two decades.
Looking back at the state’s history dealing with the death penalty, repeal has been attempted several times. Most recently, in 2022. But it’s never had enough legislative support.
Former Republican lawmaker Lowry Snow had a large hand in the 2022 attempt. He made a plea to members of the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee.
“I think there’s a better way to do criminal justice,” he said. “We’re not moving rapidly. We’re not bringing about justice quickly. That’s why I say the system is broken.”
The repeal hearing lasted hours, and families of victims gave tearful testimonies.
“These families who had been promised (a specific outcome) were essentially given, I think, a false promise,” Snow said.
His main argument: a death sentence yields a lengthy court process that leads to decades of appeals and is rarely carried out. However, other views were shared in that hearing which pushed back.
“It’s proportional justice. If you take a life, then you run the risk of losing your own as a result of it,” said Rep. Jeff Burton R-Nephi.
It was his single vote that caused that repeal to fail, after he had a last-minute change of mind.
“I don’t think we should repeal something when we haven’t done everything we can possibly do to improve it,” Burton said.
The improvements he spoke of, he said, included mainly cutting down on the state’s portion of the appeals process. He also argued the death penalty helps prosecutors with leverage.
“To be very forthright with you, I don’t think a lot has been done on this since ’22,” he said. “That ability to offer to remove the death penalty has caused that individual to give the family some relief as to where the remains are.”
Other attempts at repeal were made in 2016 and 2018. While the discussion never moved further than a floor debate, there have been some changes to capital punishment in Utah over the years.
“The big turning point for Utah came in 1992, and that’s when the legislature created a new sentencing option for capital cases,” said Dave Cawley, Cold Podcast host.
Cawley said the new sentencing option brought another option for finality for both victims and prosecutors.
“Life without a chance of parole,” he said
Utah’s current death penalty laws also ban execution for people with intellectual disabilities. In 2007, the murder of a child under the age of 14 became a death-eligible offense.
More recently, Utah also reinstated the firing squad as a backup method of execution if lethal injection was unavailable or was ruled unconstitutional. And as the first execution in 14 years inches closer, Utahns and their elected representatives may not be finished with the debate.
“It becomes an inflection point for all of us to collectively ask,” Cawley said. “‘Is this the way we want our justice system to work?’”
Utah
Utah mom accused of kidnapping autistic son’s 11-year-old bully until he apologized
A Utah mother allegedly kidnapped her autistic son’s bully and kept him at her home until he apologized — then threatened to have her husband beat him up.
Shannon Tufuga, 40, was slapped with kidnapping charges Monday after she rolled up on her son’s 11-year-old bully while he was riding his bike around his neighborhood in early September, according to charging documents obtained by KSL.com.
Tufuga was “driving around looking” specifically for the boy, whom she confronted and corralled into her car without his parents’ knowledge, the documents alleged.
She allegedly hightailed it back to her home in Provo, Utah, and kept the boy there until he apologized to her son.
The boy readily apologized, but even then, the vengeful mom wouldn’t let up, according to the police report. She “threatened to have her husband beat up” the accused bully and sneered that he “was lucky she did not run over his bike,” the documents alleged.
Tufuga eventually drove the shell-shocked boy back to his home.
The alleged kidnapping caused the boy “serious emotional distress” over the following months, and he now suffers from “high anxiety and has had to alter his daily routines significantly,” according to the charging documents.
Tufuga was charged with child kidnapping and aggravated child abuse on Monday, both as second-degree felonies. The charges were lowered from first-degree felonies after the Utah County Attorney’s Office determined that a “reduction would be in the interests of justice.”
Tufuga’s son is on the autism spectrum, according to a post on her Facebook.
Utah
Jazz Injury Report Rules Out 7 Players vs. Raptors
The Utah Jazz are set to face off against the Toronto Raptors to kick off their new week for their second of two meetings across this season, where the Jazz in particular have ruled out a total of seven names on their injury report.
Here’s what the injury landscape looks like for the Jazz and Raptors rolling into the night:
Utah Jazz Injury Report
OUT – Isaiah Collier (hamstring)
OUT – Keyonte George (hamstring)
OUT – Jaren Jackson Jr. (knee)
OUT – Walker Kessler (shoulder)
OUT – Lauri Markkanen (hip)
OUT – Jusuf Nurkic (nose)
OUT – Blake Hinson (two-way)
QUESTIONABLE – Cody Williams (shoulder)
It’s much of the same from what the Jazz have been dealing with across the past couple of weeks.
Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen still remain out with their minor injuries that they’ve suffered past the All-Star break, and Walker Kessler, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Jusuf Nurkic remain out for the year with their respective season-ending injuries.
However, the two names that stick out on this injury report against the Raptors in particular are their two first round picks from the 2024 NBA Draft; Isaiah Collier who’s out with a hamstring injury, while Cody Williams is the latest to be among those listed with a shoulder issue.
For Collier, it’s set to be a third-straight game that he’s been out due to what’s been labeled hamstring soreness, and thus leave the Jazz without both their starting and second-string point guard for the night.
That could lead to either two-way signee Elijah Harkless getting a starting nod for a second straight game following his elevation against the Philadelphia 76ers, or that spot could go to 10-day signing Kennedy Chandler, who played 35 minutes in that same game for a career-high 19 points in his team debut.
As for Williams, he’s been downgraded to questionable for the action due to shoulder soreness; something that could leave him still able to go before tip-off, but remains to be seen based on how he feels before gametime.
The second-year forward has been on a hot streak as of late. In his past five games, he’s averaged an impressive 19.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.0 assists, shooting 50.0% from the field throughout.
If Williams is out of the mix, it’ll leave their frontcourt a bit more shorthanded from what they’ve been used to across the past couple of weeks, and might lead to even more minutes for guys like 10-day signee Bez Mbeng and two-way big man Oscar Tshiebwe to fill those minutes.
Toronto Raptors Injury Report
OUT – Immanuel Quickley (foot)
OUT – Jakob Poeltl (rest)
QUESTIONABLE – Collin Murray-Boyles (illness)
When it comes to the Raptors, they’ll be without a couple of guys on their roster, Immanuel Quickley who’s slated to miss out due to a foot injury, while Jakob Poeltl won’t be playing for Toronto’s second leg of a back-to-back following their previous battle against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
Collin Murray-Boyles, on the other hand, has been upgraded to questionable against the Jazz with an illness after previously being out against the Nuggets over the weekend.
Tip-off between the Jazz and Raptors lands at 9 p.m. MT in the Delta Center, where Toronto will have their chance at a 2-0 series sweep over Utah depending on the results.
Utah
POST-GAME: André Tourigny 3.22.26 | Utah Mammoth
NHL, the NHL Shield, the word mark and image of the Stanley Cup and the NHL Conference logos are registered trademarks of the National Hockey League. All NHL logos and marks, including the foregoing, and NHL team logos and marks, as well as all other proprietary materials depicted herein are the property of the NHL and the respective NHL teams and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of NHL Enterprises, L.P. © National Hockey League. All rights reserved.
-
Detroit, MI6 days agoDrummer Brian Pastoria, longtime Detroit music advocate, dies at 68
-
Oklahoma1 week agoFamily rallies around Oklahoma father after head-on crash
-
Georgia1 week agoHow ICE plans for a detention warehouse pushed a Georgia town to fight back | CNN Politics
-
Alaska1 week agoPolice looking for man considered ‘armed and dangerous’
-
Movie Reviews5 days ago‘Youth’ Twitter review: Ken Karunaas impresses audiences; Suraj Venjaramoodu adds charm; music wins praise | – The Times of India
-
Education1 week agoVideo: Turning Point USA Clubs Expand to High Schools Across America
-
Science1 week agoLong COVID leaves thousands of L.A. county residents sick, broke and ignored
-
Sports3 days agoIOC addresses execution of 19-year-old Iranian wrestler Saleh Mohammadi
