The Appellate Group

State v. Camara

State v. Camara, 2025 UT App 174 (Tenney& Harris, J.)

Criminal

The Utah Court of Appeals held:

  • The district court did not abuse its discretion in sanctioning the State rather than dismissing the case for improperly obtaining files from the defense expert’s computer.
  • The presumption of prejudice applied to a mistrial motion filed by Defendant after learning that a juror had overheard comments made from the gallery during trial. Remand is appropriate to determine if the State overcame the presumption of prejudice.
  • Judge Tenney dissented on the mistrial issue, concluding that the juror was not exposed to an outside contact, and the circumstances did not trigger the presumption of prejudice.

Read the full court opinion