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Could making this change help Utah improve sexual assault prosecutions?

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Could making this change help Utah improve sexual assault prosecutions?


SALT LAKE CITY — In the beginning, the criminal justice system worked just the way Taryn Evans anticipated.

She filed a report of rape with Salt Lake City police in 2019, explaining a man she’d met on a dating app forced himself on her the first time they met.

“Against my will, he had sex with me, and I voiced my no’s several times,” Evans told KSL. “I froze, I was terrified.”

Evans went to a hospital for a forensic exam. In the weeks that followed, prosecutors charged Kenneth Joshua Cordova with rape and two other felony crimes.

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But those hefty felony charges were later watered down to misdemeanors as part of a plea deal that spared Cordova any prison time and didn’t require him to register as a sex offender.

The reason? Evans said the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office told her it came down to proving a lack of consent.

“The prosecutor said that based on that and the way our statutes written, there’s a substantial likelihood of acquittal,” Evans recalled.

Her experience with Utah’s justice system motivated her to advocate for change. That’s when she learned a bill that could impact cases like hers has repeatedly failed on Utah’s Capitol Hill.

“The gap in the law that our legislators are ignoring is the reason for victims of sexual assault not getting any justice,” Evans said.

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Taryn Evans reported to Salt Lake City police that a man she met on a dating app forced himself on her even though she said no. Evans is urging Utah lawmakers to pass a bill she says could help ensure perpetrators of sex crimes face serious consequences. (KSL TV)

The gap she’s talking about: Prosecutors say Utah’s rape statute requires they prove that a suspect knew a victim was not consenting. They say that’s a hard burden to meet, especially if a victim is intoxicated, sleeping, or frozen in fear.

It means in cases like Evans’, charges of rape – a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison – are often getting dropped down to mere misdemeanors.

KSL does not normally identify survivors of sexual crimes, but Evans gave her permission.

In a statement, a defense attorney for Cordova said the case had many nuances that called into question the issue of consent.

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“Mr. Cordova plead guilty to Sexual Battery as Class A misdemeanors also understanding the risk of going to trial,” attorney Cara Tangaro wrote.

KSL obtained a recording of Cordova’s interview with Salt Lake City police through a public records request. In the recording, Cordova is heard telling police, “I certainly didn’t do any rape.”

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill stands by his office’s decision to offer the plea bargain. Asked whether his office got the best deal it could, Gill said, “That was the best outcome we could have.”

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill talks about his office’s decision to offer a plea bargain in a rape case. “That was the best outcome we could have," Gill told KSL.

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill talks about his office’s decision to offer a plea bargain in a rape case. “That was the best outcome we could have,” Gill told KSL. (KSL TV)

Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, has sponsored legislation to fill that gap four times.

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“There are individuals who are serial rapists, who know they’re not going to get prosecuted and continue to harm people,” Romero said.

Her affirmative consent bill would create a new third-degree felony offense for cases where a perpetrator fails to get consent from a victim through words or actions.

Gill said he’s long supported Romero’s efforts.

“It gives us also a different place to land at, which I think currently is missing,” Gill said.

Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, has voted against the measure in the past.

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KSL asked during this year’s legislative session if he would reconsider.

“Absolutely,” Schultz responded. “We need to look at what we can always do to protect the ladies in the state.”

But the bill didn’t get a public hearing before the end of the 2024 Legislature.

“I don’t think they did anything to protect the ladies,” Evans said. “We’re not going to even talk about it? That sends a message of, ‘it doesn’t matter.’”

Will lawmakers consider bill to boost Utah’s low rate of sex assault prosecutions?

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But the politics of consent may be shifting. Romero and Evans say they are building momentum behind the scenes.

“I’ve had conversations with the speaker,” Romero said of Schultz. “He’s like, ‘We need to do something, I go, ‘We do. Y’all need to get my bill a hearing.’”

“When we don’t hear legislation,” Romero continued, “people feel like their lawmakers don’t care about them.”

Evans agreed.

“I’m currently trying to get support so that I can, before the next legislative session, have enough people to come in to force a discussion, so that Utah can do better by victims,” she said.

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Romero knows many people would prefer to avoid the politics of consent, regardless of their party affiliation.

“They don’t have to have a ‘D’ or an ‘R’ behind their name,” Romero said. “It just makes people uncomfortable.”

But with the support of Utah survivors like Taryn behind her, Romero said she’ll propose her affirmative consent legislation a fifth time next year and is determined to get it passed.

“I’ll continue to make colleagues uncomfortable,” Romero said, “because we need to have these conversations.

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Amid traffic, Utah walked to Leafs’ arena pregame

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Amid traffic, Utah walked to Leafs’ arena pregame


TORONTO — The Utah Hockey Club said players were forced to walk to their game against the Maple Leafs after their bus got stuck in Toronto traffic Sunday night.

The team posted a video on social media of team members walking to Scotiabank Arena, with player Maveric Lamoureux saying the bus was “not moving at all.”

Several city streets had been closed during the day for an annual Santa Claus parade.

The Maple Leafs earned their fourth consecutive win by defeating Utah 3-2.

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The viral incident prompted Ontario Premier Doug Ford to call the congestion “embarrassing” and “unacceptable,” highlighting his government’s plan to address the city’s gridlock through bike lane legislation.

It wasn’t the first time a Toronto visitor had to ditch their vehicle to make it to an event on time.

In June, former One Direction band member Niall Horan had to walk through traffic to get to his concert at Scotiabank Arena.



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Utah Highway Patrol responds to your suggestions on making Utah roads safer

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Utah Highway Patrol responds to your suggestions on making Utah roads safer


SALT LAKE CITY — FOX 13 News is Driven to Change and that includes bringing you reports on important topics like road rage, construction, and wrong-way drivers. During our coverage, we continually ask for any questions or concerns you may have along Utah’s roadways.

The feedback has gotten an enormous response, so FOX 13 sat down with Lieutenant Cameron Roden on Good Day Utah to help address input we have been getting, from the perspective of Utah Highway Patrol.

Speeding in Utah, there’s so much of it, and then you can sometimes say that that leads to tailgating, which may lead to road rage incidents. What are you seeing out there in terms of speed and what can we do to lessen the effects of that?

Lt. Cameron Roden: Speed is our number one thing that we see. That’s our number one traffic stop that we make, and we know that it leads to the majority of crashes in the state of Utah. So we definitely put an emphasis on speed and it does lead to other things. Not just crashes. It leads to road rage and other things .So, as far as what changes can we make, we need to start with ourselves, and really say, ‘Hey, do I have a problem?’ You know, we just need to start with ourselves and not think that it’s something else’s problem. If we slow our speeds ourselves, and then it’ll start to to catch on and people will do that speed limit. So, but the legislature has definitely taken some steps to help us address, especially the the speeds that are those excessive speeds where we have that one zero five law now that addresses those speeds and increases fines and and hopefully discourages people from those extreme speeds.

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Some of our viewers talked about maybe capping some of the speed limits for truck drivers. Is that something that’s even feasible?

You know, that would be something that would have to go through that, that legislative process to see whether we that would be something that would help. But ultimately, if we we start with ourselves, hopefully that will make that change and reduce crashes and fatalities.

There are things being done to try and intervene and stop wrong-way drivers before they happen. But some of our viewers propose things like spikes. What are your thoughts on implementing something like that?

We’ve had over the last several years, a rash of wrong-way drivers, and it’ll come in onesie twos, and then we’ll go for a period of time without that. And so, but this spike over the last couple of years has caused us to to create a task force to look at wrongly driving what things can be done. And so getting all these stakeholders together between UDOT and Highway Safety, looking at what technologies and things that could be implemented, and and things like, wrong way detection cameras. Those are some things that are being actually used in the state of Utah right now to help us spot those and and advance signage, getting people to realize they’re going the wrong way and turn around. The the spike strips have actually been talked about in our task force a little bit. And if something like that would even be, it is that technology available right now. And as what we could actually implement in the state of Utah, there’s nothing that really fits the bill right now because of our environment. We have our snow plows. We have snow and things like that. Something like that really wouldn’t be practical right now.

Probably the most talked about topic that we’ve received was distracted driving, texting while driving. You went out, I saw on the UHP social media page, that you guys just driving and you look to your right and left and you can find someone texting. What kind of enforcement do we have against distracted driving specifically on your phone?

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This is something that we like you said, we see it every day. We go out to crashes,and and we may suspect that a driver may be distracted. And so, it’s something that’s definitely under-reported. It’s it’s a bigger problem than than the numbers really show.And so not only do we address it during our normal patrols.Our officers are seeing it, and addressing it while they’re out there.But we’ll also do targeted patrols where the highway safety office actually gives out additional funds for that targeted enforcement, where we’ll get an unmarked vehicle. We go out driving down the roads where we try to spot these vehicles and and get them stopped because those are those are a big danger on our roadways where our attention and our focus needs to be on driving.

If you have ideas or suggestions for how to make Utah’s roadways safer click here to be taken to our Driven to Change form. There you can share your ideas or suggestions.

DRIVEN TO CHANGE

Share your ideas on how to make Utah’s roads safer





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Utah National Guard gets new, top-of-the-line Apache helicopters

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Utah National Guard gets new, top-of-the-line Apache helicopters


WEST JORDAN, Utah — The Utah National Guard has been serving the state since 1894 with roots dating back to the Minutemen of the 17th-century American colonies.

This weekend, they received quite the boost in the form of the Army’s most advanced attack helicopter.

“These aircraft are extremely fast compared to our other aircraft,” said Col. Patrick.

On Saturday, the Utah National Guard took their new Apache helicopters for a spin.

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“The flight went better than we could have hoped for. A little weather on the east coast, but after that, it wasn’t bad at all,” Patrick said.

The first four of 24 Apaches arrived early Saturday morning after they went under full inspection.

“They’ve got software on there that it’s like playing a video game. You just fly the video game and the airplane… is fast and smooth, which is the good thing, and so it’ll just hold the altitude and airspeed and just keep on trucking along. It’s pretty good,” Patrick said.

The first Apache helicopters arrived in Utah back in 1992.

“It just continues the legacy of the air pirates and what we bring to not only Utah, but really to the global fight and security, really,” Patrick added.

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The colonel calls it a major step forward.

“What a great day for Utah as we advance into the next couple decades of combat operations and what we can provide to, you know, the global security.”





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