After a defense attorney asked a judge to ban courtroom cameras for a Utah man accused of taking his young kids on a torturous hike during a frigid winter storm, The Salt Lake Tribune and other media outlets have argued for transparency.
Kayla Mahoney asserted there’s been a “media frenzy” since her 31-year-old client, Micah Smith, was charged with child torture in November, weeks after he and his three children had to be rescued from the Big Cottonwood Canyon hike. The children — ages 2, 4, and 8 years old — were all hospitalized, along with Smith.
Mahoney in her motion requesting the camera ban argued last month that, among other reasons, Smith’s children would be harmed if they saw photos of their dad in a jail jumpsuit.
The Tribune’s attorney, Michael Judd, wrote in a reply filed last week that Utah’s court rules begin with a presumption that cameras are allowed — and that Smith “fails to demonstrate why this criminal proceeding should be treated differently.”
Attorneys for a group of Utah news organizations including the Deseret News, KSL and the Utah Headliners Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists filed a similar opposition.
Judd argued that if there’s concern about Smith’s children seeing photos of him handcuffed or in jail clothes, the “more reasonable course” would be for the children’s guardians to limit their access to articles, not for the judge to attempt to keep those images from appearing online at all.
He also noted Mahoney’s argument could apply to any defendant with young children. If the judge were to support her reasoning, the move would stand to endorse a policy “that would bar media coverage of any criminal proceeding involving a parent,” which would “turn the presumption of access inside out.”
(3rd District Court) Micah Smith, right, appears virtually for a court hearing on Dec. 2, 2025. Smith is facing child torture and abuse charges after he took his three small children on a long, strenuous hike during a winter storm in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
Mahoney specifically asked 3rd District Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills to ban video and still cameras from the courtroom and prohibit media from livestreaming any hearings. She noted she is not requesting that journalists or the public be banned from going to the courthouse and watching the case unfold from the gallery.
During a hearing Friday, Hruby-Mills did not make a blanket ruling about cameras in the case moving forward, but she did determine that The Tribune could photograph Smith at a detention hearing on Tuesday.
There, Smith is expected to ask for the chance to post bail.
“I simply do not find that the presumption [of openness] has been overcome in precluding electronic coverage, especially for the upcoming hearing which is limited to a still camera,” Hruby-Mills said.
When Utah media cover court cases, judges typically designate one photographer and one videographer to document the hearing. They are then required to share that imagery with other media outlets.
Judges also have the discretion to prohibit cameras from recording hearings, but that rarely happens. As of Friday, a photographer had been designated to cover the Tuesday hearing, but no one had requested to video it.
The judge said Friday she expects to consider each media request for what’s called “electronic” coverage on a case-by-case basis — and attorneys for the prosecution, defense and media will have the chance to weigh in.
This is the second time since October that a high-profile Utah defendant has asked a judge to limit media coverage; in October, attorneys for Tyler Robinson, accused of fatally shooting Charlie Kirk, made a similar request. So far, the judge in that case has allowed cameras but has put strict restrictions in place, including a ban of any imagery that depicts Robinson’s shackles.
Smith was charged with three counts of aggravated child abuse and three counts of child torture, all first-degree felonies punishable by up to life in prison if convicted.
Charging documents allege he pushed his children to continue a hike on the strenuous Broads Fork Trail in October despite worsening weather, forcing the family to seek shelter during a barrage of snow, rain and hail. Search and rescue crews found them the next morning; two children were in critical condition.
According to the charges, Smith told police he was unprepared, had not checked the weather and ignored text messages from his wife and pleas from his 8-year-old daughter to turn back.