Photo Credit – Daily Herald U.S. District Court Judge Dee Benson recently held Ron Lafferty is competent, at least according to how federal law defines competency, to participate in the federal review of his sentence. Mr. Lafferty exhausted his appeals in state court and is now asking a federal judge to review his death sentence to prevent his execution. Counsel…
photo credit – snowstice/Flickr Pot shops in Colorado just opened their doors to sell the first legal recreational use marijuana in the United States. Anyone over 21 years old can now buy pot at any legal pot shop in Colorado. If you are a Colorado resident, you can buy up to 1 ounce. With Utah being right next door many will…
When a jury is selected to decide the guilt or innocence of a defendant, the court will give them instructions to help guide them in their decision making process. Jury instructions are a very important piece of a jury trial because depending on what instructions are given can determine whether there are appealable issues. In most Utah criminal cases the…
The Utah Divorce Process
Over the last fifty years or so obtaining a divorce has become much easier in Western countries. In the United States most states began permitting “no fault” divorce based on the irreconcilable differences standard. Prior to “no fault” divorce you either had to have a very good reason such as abuse, impotence, etc. and in many cases getting a divorce…
It’s Not Kidnapping You know that Utah prohibits kidnapping like all states but Utah also has a law against unlawfully detaining someone. The crime of “unlawful detention” has several elements: the actor (also known as the defendant or the suspect); intentionally or knowingly; without authority of law; against the will of the victim; detains or restrains the victim; under circumstances…
Every New Year’s Eve, Utah Highway Patrol and various local agencies are on the prowl for DUI stops. This year was no different. DUI blitzes conducted all across the state of Utah brought in several DUI arrests. Last year Utah Highway Patrol arrested at least 30 people for DUIs on New Year’s Eve in Salt Lake County, this year they…
Pope Francis this week asked American bishops to conduct polling on divorced members of their congregations. Many people are looking at this as a sign the Catholic Church could be rethinking their view on divorce. As you may know, currently the Catholic Church’s position on divorce is don’t do it under almost any circumstance. But Pope Francis may be rethinking…
Happy New Year everyone. As we usher in the New Year of 2014, we reflect back on what we consider to be the top legal stories from 2013. There were a lot to choose from this year but we think most of you will probably agree the few we selected from for this list were the most talked about and…
If you file for divorce in Utah and have minor children, you have to take a divorce education class and a divorce orientation class. These classes are part of what makes Utah’s divorce laws more stringent than most state laws in the country. Now a proposed law for the 2014 general session of the legislature seeks to make it even…
