Police Killing A Dog Can Be Considered a Violation of the Fourth Amendment The Fourth Amendment protects dog owners against law enforcement killing their canines. Kent and Tonya Mayfield brought this action against Deputy Jim Bethards under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming he violated their Fourth Amendment rights by killing their pet dog. The Mayfields claim that Deputy Bethards entered…
Police Initiated Charges Without Prosecutorial Involvement Does Not Implicate Claim Preclusion In order for criminal claim preclusion to apply, the charges must be brought by a prosecutor rather than just a police citation. In November of 2011, Ririe was pulled over on a police officer’s suspicion of drunk driving. The officer saw an open beer can in the car and…
Analyzing Consent – State v. Barela, 2015 UT 22 In sex crime cases the court will analyze whether the victim gave consent. This was an appeal from a conviction of Barela of first-degree rape at a Massage Envy studio. Barela challenged the sufficiency of the evidence to establish that the victim of the alleged rape did not consent to sex.…
Does a Gun Owner Have a Duty to not Supply an Intoxicated Person with a Firearm? A gun owner does have a duty to not supply intoxicated persons with firearms. Neely Creager was at a party one evening where she had a night of heavy drinking and a blood alcohol level of 0.25. At the party, Travis Izatt unlocked his…
Recent Search and Seizure Law Recent search and seizure law from the Utah Supreme Court. On an evening in December, Mr. Anderson was sitting in his parked car on the side of a rural highway with his hazard lights on. Two sheriff’s deputies pulled over to check on the welfare of any people in the vehicle, considering the hazard lights,…
Getting to an Equitable Division of Debts and Property The court looks to effect an equitable division of property and debts in Utah divorce cases. Issues that need to be resolved in a divorce proceeding may include the division of debt and property. It must be an equitable division. If the parties are unable to agree on how to divide…
What does Authenticating Evidence Mean? Authenticating evidence is required before the evidence can be admitted in court. Evidence can only be admitted in court if it is first authenticated, that is, the party seeking to admit the evidence must present evidence showing that the thing is what the party says it is. To satisfy the requirement of authenticating or identifying…
Civil Contempt for Violating an Order When a party to a divorce violates an order in the case the other party can ask the court to hold the violator in contempt, which can land the violator in jail, force him to pay the other party’s attorney’s fees, fine him up to $1,000 and other sanctions at the discretion of the…
Statutory Authority to Sever Criminal Counts Utah Code § 77-8a-1(1) provides a procedure to sever criminal counts from others: Two or more felonies, misdemeanors, or both, may be charged in the same indictment or information if each offense is a separate count and if the offenses charged are: (a) Based on the same conduct or are otherwise connected together in…
What is Intent to Distribute? Drug possession is a serious offense in Utah and the severity of the offense depends on a number of different factors such as where the possession took place, what type of drug was possessed, and if the drug was possessed for personal use or with the intent to distribute. If the state can show that…
