Utah

Utah lawyer asks to broadcast divorce court proceedings, but the answer appears to be no

A Salt Lake City lawyer hopes to broadcast divorce court proceedings on his YouTube channel, but he has had little luck persuading judges to agree. Lawyer Eric Johnson came up with the idea after Utah opened its courts to electronic media coverage last year, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. The…

Jun 17, 2014 10:45 AM CDT

Bill to allow firing-squad executions is being drafted in state with just one death-row inmate

A legislative committee in Wyoming is drafting a bill to allow firing-squad executions, though the state has only one death-row inmate. Committee staffers are beginning work on the bill after the director of the state’s Department of Corrections suggested the state needs an alternative to execution drugs, which are increasingly…

May 22, 2014 11:56 AM CDT

Utah mom charged with first-degree murder in deaths of 6 newborns

A Utah mother was formally charged Monday with first-degree murder in the deaths of six newborn babies whose bodies, police said, were recently found inside a garage. Megan Huntsman, 39, was not charged in the death of a seventh infant whose body also was found, because authorities believe it was…

Apr 28, 2014 6:55 PM CDT

Federal judge provides for jury counseling after marshal fatally shoots defendant in court

A new federal courthouse in Salt Lake City was touted for its enhanced security features. However, when a defendant in a racketeering case lunged at a witness at his trial began Monday, it wasn’t the exterior vehicle barricades or the bullet-resistant glass and paneling that stopped him but an armed…

Apr 22, 2014 2:35 PM CDT

Defendant shot dead by marshal after charging witness stand during trial, officials say

Updated: A defendant in a federal racketeering trial was shot multiple times in the chest by a federal marshal Monday after he lunged toward the witness stand holding a pen or pencil, officials said. The defendant, 25-year-old Siale Angilau, died in the hospital at around 2 p.m. The trial of…

Apr 21, 2014 6:00 PM CDT

As state and local police struggle to investigate cybercrime, official describes ‘helpless feeling’

Despite an explosion of cybercrime in recent years, many state and local law enforcement officers aren’t equipped to deal with it. As a result, conduct that results in significant financial losses and could create major security risks goes uninvestigated and unprosecuted. For example, the state of Utah was able to…

Apr 21, 2014 4:45 PM CDT

New federal courthouse looks like ‘a gigantic air conditioner compressor’

Architects are exuberant about the new federal courthouse that opened in Salt Lake City last week. But a lot of city residents aren’t pleased with the structure, which is widely known as “the Borg cube,” the Salt Lake Tribune reports. The moniker refers to a Star Trek alien race and…

Apr 21, 2014 1:40 PM CDT

Woman is expected to face murder charges after 7 dead infants were discovered in her garage

No one apparently knew Megan Huntsman was ever pregnant, including her husband and his three daughters, two of them now adults, who lived at their home. Yet police in Provo, Utah, are now accusing Huntsman of killing six of the seven dead babies found in her garage over the weekend.…

Apr 14, 2014 6:10 PM CDT

Stripped of Boy Scout leadership posts, 2 men avoid jail in case of toppled ancient rocks

Two former Boy Scout leaders have taken misdemeanor pleas and avoided jail in what was originally a felony case over the toppling of an ancient boulder in a Utah state park. Glenn Tuck Taylor, 45, and David Benjamin Hall, 42, got one year of probation Tuesday in the 7th District…

Mar 18, 2014 10:35 PM CDT

Campaign-donation secrecy at issue in report criticizing former Utah AG Swallow

The Utah State Bar says it is continuing its ethics investigation of former Utah Attorney General John Swallow after a report by a special legislative committee raised questions about “pay to play” politics. The report alleges Swallow tried to defend payday loan companies while receiving campaign contributions through political organizations…

Mar 18, 2014 4:08 PM CDT

Police department lawyer is jailed by own client on suspicion of drug and weapon crimes

A lawyer for the Salt Lake City police department has been arrested on suspicion of drug and weapon crimes by employees of his own client. James Wesley Robinson, 50, was arrested and jailed along with two adult sons after a search of his home Tuesday, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.…

Feb 20, 2014 7:42 PM CST

Suit claims Utah adoption laws allow ‘legalized fraud and kidnapping’

A federal lawsuit filed last month claims Utah’s adoption-friendly laws violate the constitutional rights of unwed fathers. The suit filed in Salt Lake City on behalf of 12 fathers says Utah erects a “confusing labyrinth of virtually incomprehensible legal mandates and nearly impossible deadlines” for fathers seeking to stop adoptions,…

Feb 20, 2014 12:15 PM CST

License-plate-reader businesses file First Amendment suit over new Utah privacy law

In an unusual First Amendment challenge to a revised state law seeking to protect individual privacy, two companies that offer license-plate readers and data services to private businesses such as automobile finance and repossession companies have sued the state of Utah. The plaintiffs, Digital Recognition Network Inc. and Vigilant Solutions…

Feb 14, 2014 9:15 PM CST

Same-sex marriages in Utah will be recognized by federal government, Holder says

The federal government will recognize nearly 1,300 same-sex marriages performed in Utah in recent weeks, despite the state’s announcement that it would not confer legal status on those unions. According to the New York Times, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Friday that the marriages would be “recognized as…

Jan 10, 2014 6:49 PM CST

Utah AG sees ‘legal limbo’ for same-sex marriages after SCOTUS puts the unions on hold

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday stayed a federal judge’s Dec. 20 decision allowing same-sex marriages in Utah. The Supreme Court stayed the decision by U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby pending disposition by the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, report the New York Times, the National Law Journal…

Jan 7, 2014 12:53 PM CST