Utah’s highest court will hear the case of a Utah boy who was 16 years old when he was sent to adult prison for an aggravated robbery, though he was paroled just six months later.
In February, the Utah Court of Appeals vacated a 2013 order that moved Cooper Van Huizen’s case to district court, finding that the juvenile court judge assigned to the case should have recused herself because she was married to the then-chief criminal deputy in the Weber County Attorney’s Office, who was prosecuting the matter. Because the judge did not disclose the relationship, Van Huizen’s lawyers did not have the opportunity to request her disqualification, the decision says.
The Utah Court of Appeals sent the case back to the juvenile court system, finding that a new judge should decide whether the case should be bound over to adult court. If the judge finds it should not move to the adult system, Van Huizen’s convictions would be thrown out.
But that hearing has yet to take place. The Utah Attorney General’s Office has appealed to the state Supreme Court arguing that the Court of Appeals erred, since it granted the appeal without evidence the judge was biased against Van Huizen.
The Utah Supreme Court in July agreed to hear the case, according to court records. No court dates have been set as of Monday.
Van Huizen, now 19, served six months of a 1- to-15-year prison sentence and was paroled in late 2014.
Cooper Van Huizen. Courtesy photo
According to court documents, Van Huizen committed a home invasion robbery in Roy on Nov. 19, 2013, with a friend and some acquaintances. At 16, the South Ogden teen was the youngest in the group; his friend also was a juvenile and the other three were adults.
Two people were held at gunpoint as the robbers demanded money, cell phones and a stash of marijuana. Van Huizen did not orchestrate the robbery but agreed to it and provided guns from his family home, court documents say.
Van Huizen was charged with two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of aggravated burglary under the Serious Youth Offender Act. That act requires the state to file a criminal information in juvenile court against minors accused of certain serious felony offenses so a judge could determine whether they should be tried as an adult or remain in juvenile court.
After hearing evidence, 2nd District Juvenile Court Judge Michelle Heward sent Van Huizen’s case to the adult system. The same deputy county attorneys who handled the juvenile proceedings continued to prosecute Van Huizen — and received at least some assistance from the juvenile judge’s husband, who was within the chain of command for the case.
Van Huizen eventually pleaded guilty to the reduced second-degree felony robbery counts. The teen thought he would receive a punishment similar to two co-defendants, one of whom was sentenced to 180 days in jail and the other to 120 days.
However, 2nd District Judge Ernie Jones said the 180 days in jail recommended by attorneys and Adult Probation and Parole was “too soft” for his crimes and imposed two concurrent sentences of 1- to 15 years in prison on May 7, 2014.
Six months later, just hours after Van Huizen’s first parole hearing, the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole ordered that he be released the next day. The teen was placed on parole for 36 months.
Follow @jm_miller