Defendants cannot be convicted of both a lesser included offense and the greater crime. A lesser included offense is a term used in criminal law for a crime that’s contained within a more serious crime. You can’t commit the primary or greater offense without having also committed the lesser. In order to determine if one crime should be included within…
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Don’t Get Caught by Utah’s New .05 DUI Law
The Strictest DUI Law in the Country with a .05 Limit As little as two drinks can put you over the DUI limit in Utah now. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people across the United States are arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, but Utah has set a new legal limit of .05, making it even more…
The Timeliness of a Restitution Order
State v. Poole – Restitution is Statutory When damages are caused during the commission of a crime the law can order the defendant to pay restitution to the victims. Utah law allows for victims of crimes to receive restitution, that is, compensation for their pecuniary loss. In State v. Poole, the Utah Court of Appeals addressed the issue of when a…
When Character Evidence is Admissible In Utah Courts
Criminal Cases Often Involve Character Evidence Character evidence can muddy the waters of a trial in ways that can benefit and harm the defendant. Over the centuries of common law, a prohibition against introducing evidence of a person’s character developed so as to avoid influencing juries and judges to find either for or against a defendant merely because of a…
What is Criminal Nonsupport?
How Violating a Child Support Order Becomes Criminal Nonsupport Criminal nonsupport is a crime brought against individuals who do not comply with their duty to provide for their children. Every parent has the moral (and legal) obligation to provide for the support and maintenance of their children. In every divorce involving children the court is primarily concerned with ensuring that…
What Are the Exceptions to the Exclusionary Rule
What is the Exclusionary Rule? The exclusionary rule keeps out illegally obtained evidence. There are three exceptions to the exclusionary rule. The exclusionary rule, in simple terms, allows courts to rule that a piece of evidence is inadmissible if it was obtained through illegal means by law enforcement, typically through an illegal search. If the evidence is important enough and…
Geist Getting a lot of Attention
Geist was a Weimeraner dog, known to be rather gentle. Geist Is About More Than a Dog Perhaps you’ve heard about Geist, the dog that was shot and killed by Salt Lake City police officer Brett Olsen while the officer was allegedly searching for a missing child. The case has wrought concern because the officer killed the dog on private…
What is a Presentence Report in Utah criminal cases
When someone is convicted of a felony in Utah the judge typically wants to find out as much about that person as possible before handing down a sentence. This is accomplished through what is called a presentence report or a presentence investigation (PSI). The presentence investigation is carried out by Adult Probation and Parole, the branch of the Department of…
Salcido Law Firm Gets Acquittal in Record Breaking Time
Yesterday we had a jury trial in Spanish Fork District Court. Not only did we get an acquittal but we got the NOT GUILTY verdict in less than 10 minutes. We’ve never heard of a jury returning a not guilty verdict in that short of a time, so yeah…we feel pretty good about that. At Salcido Law Firm we fight…
Utah Supreme Court Addresses Burglary of One’s Own Home
A new case was handed down by the Utah Supreme Court last week, Utah v. Machan, which addresses the interesting issue of whether one can burglarize one’s own home. Machan was arrested and escorted out of his home by police officers. He was forced to take up a new residence after his wife got a restraining order against him which prohibited from…