State v. Pola
State v. Pola, 2025 UT App 143 (Tenney, J.)
Criminal
The Utah Court of Appeals held:
- The district court did not plainly err by not instructing the jury on what constituted a lawful arrest and on the definition of probable cause, nor did it plainly err by not instructing the jury that the mens rea applied to the element of the defendant being a prisoner.
- There was sufficient evidence to show that Defendant was at least reckless as to whether he was subject to a lawful arrest.
- Practice Tip: In the Fourth Amendment context, the Utah Court of Appeals defined a “lawful arrest” as one in which the officer “had probable cause to believe an offense had been committed or is being committed, and a reasonably and prudent person in the officer’s position must have been justified in believing that the suspect had committed the offense,” but it is unclear whether this definition applies to the term when used in the Utah Code.