Utah
KSL Investigates: How is Utah’s new self-defense law impacting justice?
SALT LAKE CITY — A person discovered responsible of murdering his roommate, a person accused of firing “warning photographs” that left a youngster paralyzed, and a person accused of utilizing pepper spray and a taser on unarmed protestors all share one thing in widespread.
Every of them tried – unsuccessfully – to make use of a brand new Utah self-defense legislation to get their prices dismissed with out going to trial.
In 2021, Home Invoice 227 sailed via the Utah Legislature. The brand new legislation went into impact on Might 5, 2021, and now provides people who find themselves charged with crimes and declare self-defense a possibility to ask for a justification listening to.
Throughout the pretrial listening to, prosecutors should then show the particular person charged didn’t act in self-defense or the protection of others to be able to take the case to trial. If they can not show so by clear and convincing proof – a excessive authorized bar – the fees are dismissed and can’t be refiled.
Even when prosecutors are profitable, they can not depend on that ruling shifting ahead. Defendants can nonetheless declare self-defense once more at trial, simply as they’ve been in a position to for many years.
“They wish to have a free chunk on the apple upfront after which have a second chunk on the apple later, and so they wish to name it justice,” stated Salt Lake County District Lawyer Sim Gill.
Is a brand new Utah self-defense legislation enhancing our justice system or resulting in unintended penalties? @KSLInvestigates analyzed a full 12 months of instances. Tonight at 10 on @KSL5TV we’ll share what we have discovered so YOU can determine.
I hope you may be part of us! pic.twitter.com/T4joR8sPz9
— Daniella Rivera KSL (@DaniellaKSL) August 2, 2022
Gill has been a vocal critic of the brand new legislation. He stated it forces judges to decide meant for a jury and creates an additional hurdle for each prosecutors and victims.
“Pointless burdens, which revictimize victims and price taxpayers cash over once more, for an issue that didn’t exist,” Gill stated.
The KSL Investigators first reported on unintended penalties of the brand new legislation in November. Since then, we’ve tracked each case recognized by the Utah Courtroom System as being impacted by HB 227.
That features a felony firearms case filed in opposition to Jon Michael Clara in 2019. He fired seven photographs towards a truck that rammed a number of instances into the SUV he was driving. One of many bullets traveled via an uninvolved truck close by, narrowly lacking a toddler.
Clara claimed self-defense and urged lawmakers to cross HB 227. Virtually instantly after the brand new legislation went into impact, he used it to have his scheduled jury trial cancelled and a justification listening to held months later as an alternative.
Third District Choose Todd Shaughnessy stated he discovered the state of affairs troubling, however felt beneath the brand new legislation, he was compelled to rule in Clara’s favor.
“I imagine my fingers are tied,” he stated, “and I’ve no alternative, given the statute, however to dismiss the case.”
A jury by no means noticed the video captured by Clara’s dashcam that evening, regardless of the decide’s perception that one ought to.
“This case is, within the courts view, a basic case that needs to be determined by a jury,” Shaughnessy stated.
Utah legal protection lawyer Mark Moffat helps the brand new legislation. He instructed KSL individuals who’ve acted in self-defense shouldn’t have to take a position money and time in a jury trial. And if prosecutors have a case they’ll win at trial, he believes they shouldn’t have a problem disproving a self-defense declare early on.
“If an individual is sitting in jail on a murder cost the place there’s a legitimate and legit declare of self-defense, that particular person should have the flexibility to have that situation resolved early within the case,” he stated.
Moffat stated the brand new legislation marks a return to a time in Utah’s previous, when instances had been extra totally vetted throughout hearings early on within the court docket course of.
“And it’s on this very restricted, slim slice of instances that contain the usage of self-defense,” he stated.
However is a legislation supposed to stop pointless prosecutions inflicting pointless delays?
The KSL Investigators analyzed dozens of Utah court docket data from the primary 12 months that HB 227 was in impact. We discovered 52 defendants requested a self-defense justification listening to beneath the brand new legislation in 53 instances. One defendant used the brand new course of in two instances.
- Seven requests for a justification listening to had been denied as a result of the instances concerned home violence, that means the brand new legislation doesn’t apply.
- 11 instances both moved ahead with no listening to or had been resolved in different methods, reminiscent of a plea deal.
- 10 instances are nonetheless pending.
- In 22 instances, judges sided with the state, both ruling the protection didn’t qualify for the particular listening to or that prosecutors offered sufficient proof to disprove a self-defense declare.
- In simply three instances, defendants efficiently used the brand new legislation to get their instances completely dismissed, with out going to trial.
And judges in two of the three instances by which defendants had been profitable voiced issues, together with the decide in Clara’s case. They even urged prosecutors to attraction their choices.
“It’s nearly uncommon, unprecedented the place a decide would say that,” stated Gill. His workplace has adopted the decide’s steering and is interesting the ruling in Clara’s case.
In response to issues coming from the bench, Moffat stated, “If the courts are involved about ambiguities within the legislation, they’ve legislative liaisons that may attain out to the Legislature.”
Whereas the KSL Investigators discovered Gill’s workplace has prevailed within the majority of the self-defense justification hearings held in his district, our analysis additionally exhibits these instances are sometimes delayed by months.
Gill is looking on the Legislature to revisit Utah’s self-defense legislation.
“Are they’re going to concentrate and take severely the collateral penalties of their choices? Do they care about victims? Do they care about justice, or is it simply lip service? I assume we’ll see,” stated Gill.
Republican Rep. Karianne Lisonbee sponsored HB 227. She didn’t reply to a request for remark for this report.
Have you ever skilled one thing you suppose simply isn’t proper? The KSL Investigators wish to assist. Submit your tip at investigates@ksl.com or 385-707-6153 so we are able to get working for you.
Utah
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.
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?
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.
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Utah
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.
“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.
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.”
Utah
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Utah Hockey Club – Game #21 Preview, Projected Lines & TV Info
The depth continues to be tested as the bodies keep dropping out of the lineup up front. Tonight, a resilient Maple Leafs team is seeking its fourth consecutive win as Alex Nylander debuts on an all-Marlies line against a tired 8-9-2 Utah Hockey Club (7:00 p.m. EST, TSN4).
Head-to-Head Stats: Maple Leafs vs. Utah
In the 2024-25 regular season statistics, Utah holds the advantage in three out of five offensive categories and three out of five defensive categories.
Game Day Quotes
Craig Berube on what he learned from the pre-scout of Utah’s 6-1 win over Pittsburgh last night:
The power play was good. They got three. They’re fast, and they have a lot of skill. They make a lot of plays — a lot of west-west plays — and get up the ice really well. Their D are involved.
We have to check well tonight. We have to stay out of the penalty box. Our PK is going to be important.
Overall, we need to take time and space away from this team right out of the offensive zone. Be hard on them breaking plays up. That will be very important tonight.
Berube on the decision to start Joseph Woll over Anthony Stolarz tonight:
[Woll] had a really good game against Vegas. We are just thinking ahead here. Stolly has played a lot. We have some time here. He is working in practice and doing a lot of good things.
That’s really it. We just talk about things and make decisions on what we think is best for the goalies and the team.
I talked earlier about how both goalies are going to see more net than they have in the past. It is important that we manage it to the best of our abilities.
Woll is coming off a real solid game against a real good team. We wanted to go back with him.
Berube on what improvements he is looking for from his team offensively after a week of practice:
Attacking more than we are. There are times when we tend to just control the play a little bit too much on the outside. We could attack more with more shots to the net, get pucks low to high, and do more on-and-off shooting while getting people to the net with numbers around there.
Resets to the back of the net, making quick plays out of there, doing things a little bit quicker, moving it quicker, supporting it quicker, and getting more pucks to the net than we are.
Berube on why Fraser Minten is so trustworthy despite his lack of experience:
It goes back to a great draft pick, finding a player who is so responsible at a young age. You guys aren’t on the bench, but just hearing him talk on the bench and how he sees the game, he says all the right things.
You don’t see young guys do that very often. He is already doing it at a very young age with very little experience. It is great to see. It’s refreshing. It really is.
Minten on the keys to success for his line with Nikita Grebenkin and Alex Nylander:
We just have to be simple with pucks and forecheck, using our speed to get pucks back on the forecheck. From there, let the skill make things happen. Those guys are really good when they get it back, so we have to make sure we are forechecking hard to retrieve pucks, and we’ll go from there.
Minten on the keys to success in the net-front role on the top power-play unit:
Try not to overcomplicate it too much. Get the goalie’s eyes, get in sight lines, try to get pucks back, get some tips, get some screens, and cause a little chaos. You can draw a defender with you. If you’re going backdoor, you give them a little more space. Be ready for anything coming to you. They are great players, so just try to read off of them, and hopefully, it goes well.
Minten on his experience level in front of the net on the power play:
In junior, I was mostly a flank guy with the puck more, but last year, I kind of got into it more at the end of the year, and I have been playing that role with the Marlies every game so far this year.
Minten on Morgan Rielly’s guidance at the NHL level:
He has been amazing. We have a lot in common, being from the same place. He took me under his wing a little bit and has been super nice. It makes it easy when you are coming in at 18 or 19 and there is a guy who comes to talk to you and is a really nice, supportive guy and friend. He has been awesome.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
#74 Bobby McMann — #91 John Tavares — #16 Mitch Marner
#89 Nick Robertson— #29 Pontus Holmberg — #88 William Nylander
#71 Nikita Grebenkin — #39 Fraser Minten — #92 Alex Nylander
#46 Alex Steeves — #24 Connor Dewar — #18 Steven Lorentz
Defensemen
#22 Jake McCabe — #8 Chris Tanev
#44 Morgan Rielly — #95 Oliver Ekman-Larsson
#2 Simon Benoit — #25 Conor Timmins
Goaltenders
Starter: #60 Joseph Woll
#41 Anthony Stolarz
Extras: Jani Hakanpää, Philippe Myers
Suspended: Ryan Reaves (four games remaining)
Injured (IR): Auston Matthews, Max Domi, Matthew Knies
Injured (LTIR): Calle Jarnkrok, Dakota Mermis, Max Pacioretty, David Kampf
Utah Hockey Club Projected Lines
Forwards
#9 Clayton Keller — #27 Barrett Hayton — #8 Nick Schmaltz
#22 Jack McBain — #92 Logan Cooley — #11 Dylan Guenther
#63 Matias Maccelli — #17 Nick Bjugstad — #67 Lawson Course
#15 Alex Kerfoot — #82 Kevin Stenlund — #53 Michael Carcone
Defensemen
#98 Mikhail Sergachev — #2 Olli Maata
#28 Ian Cole — #10 Maveric Lamoureux
#7 Michael Kesselring — #41 Robert Bortuzzo
Goaltenders
Starter: #70 Karel Vejmelka
Jayson Stauber
Injured: Sean Durzi, John Marino, Connor Ingram
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