Category: -Rules of Criminal Procedure

Rules of Criminal Procedure – Comment Period Closed March 9, 2024

URCrP008. Appointment of Counsel. Amend. The Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure recently amended Rule 8 to clarify the responsibility of judges during a self-representation colloquy to waive the right to counsel. The Committee’s efforts aimed to emphasize the right to self-representation as a constitutional right directly related to the right to counsel and the right to appointed counsel for indigent defendants. Additional provisions to the Rule include amendments to the qualifications for appointment on capital cases to require that attorneys representing those defendants have sufficient criminal practice, experience, and training. The Rule is approved for a 45-day public comment period.

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Rule of Criminal Procedure – Comment Period Closed December 30, 2023

URCrP021. Verdict Options. Amend. The proposed amendments make minor modifications to language use throughout the Rule and include a new subsection on legally impossible verdicts. This subsection explains the role of the Court in vacating a legally impossible verdict and describes when a legally impossible verdict occurs. The Committee incorporated this subsection into the Rule based on the Utah Supreme Court’s holding in Pleasant Grove v. Terry, 2020 UT 69.

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Rules of Criminal Procedure – Comment Period Closed September 3, 2022

URCrP012.5. Notice of transfer Domestic Violence case from Justice Court to District Court. (NEW). On July 1, 2022, H.B. 196 went into effect, modifying Section 78A-7-106 of the Utah Code. The statute now includes a provision whereby a domestic violence case set for trial in a justice court may be transferred to a district court after the prosecuting attorney or defendant files a notice of transfer. Rule  12.5 proposes procedure justice courts and district courts should follow to effectuate this transfer.

Pursuant to U.C.J.A. Rule 11-105, the Utah Supreme Court has approved new Rule 12.5 of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure for expedited adoption and a 45-day comment period.

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Rules of Criminal Procedure – Comment Period Closed August 28, 2022

URCrP008.  Appointment of counsel. (AMEND). The language of this rule has been amended to clarify when the right to counsel applies to defendants charged with a criminal offense. The rule also includes a new subsection to explain the right to self-representation and how a defendant may waive the right to counsel. The colloquy courts should engage with defendants seeking to waive the right is provided in this addition. Finally, the rule clarifies the prerequisite qualifications for attorneys appointed to represent defendants charged in capital cases.

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Rules of Criminal Procedure – Comment Period Closed August 28, 2022

URCrP042. Expungement. (NEW). Pursuant to U.C.J.A. Rule 11-105, the Utah Supreme Court has approved Rule 42 of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure for expedited adoption and another round of public comment. This version of the Rule includes technical and substantive corrections to match procedures for automatic expungement provided by Utah Code Ann. 77-40a-201. The Rule further contemplates protocol that the Administrative Office of the Courts will follow to create lists of expungement-eligible cases and identify and remove from those lists cases that do not meet eligibility criteria or are objected to by victims or prosecutors.

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Rules of Criminal Procedure – Comment Period Closed December 3, 2021

URCrP011. Pleas. Amend. The proposed change would provide that both parties must either affirm or have the opportunity to withdraw from a plea agreement if the judge decides that the final disposition will not conform to the plea agreement to which the Court had previously approved. Also included are grammatical changes that make the rule comply with the court’s style guide.

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