After nearly two hours of discussion and input from multiple stakeholders on Wednesday, members of the Utah Legislature’s Judiciary Interim Committee decided to form a working group to look at reforming preliminary hearings in the state.
The chair of the Judiciary Interim Committee, Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, introduced a bill late in the 2022 general session that would have expanded the scope of preliminary hearings, allowing defendants to “conduct discovery,” testify and cross-examine witnesses “on any matter that will aid the defense.”
SB231 was ultimately held in committee, but a retooled version, like a bill designed with input from the new working group, could make another run in next year’s legislative session.
In Utah preliminary hearings, prosecutors present evidence and a judge rules whether a crime was likely committed and if the case should move forward. These hearings are generally conducted early in the criminal court process.
Proponents for reform say that too often judges find probable cause without the defense being informed of the particulars of a case or without allowing the defense to subpoena witnesses.
In these cases, probable cause is instead determined based on statements written by paralegals in the district attorney’s office and then signed by witnesses, sometimes without the two sides ever meeting, according to Richard Mauro, executive director of the Salt Lake Legal Defender Association.
“We as defense lawyers have no right to really question the efficacy of those statements,” he said Wednesday. “... You could be accused of a death-penalty crime, and your case could be bound over based on two pieces of paper.”
However, other speakers refuted these claims, saying that defendants can call and cross-examine witnesses as long as their queries pertain strictly to probable cause. They emphasized that preliminary hearings are screening tools, not miniature trials. Prosecutors also emphasized the psychological toll victims face when forced to testify against their alleged assailants at preliminary hearings and then again later at trial.
“By and large, the motions to quash [subpoenas] that we have filed in Salt Lake County have been about victims and victims of violent crime,” said William Carlson, chief policy advisor for the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office.
The committee ended the discussion by voting unanimously to form an informal working group to further study the issue.
