State v. James
State v. Arellano, 2026 UT App 19 (Luthy, J.)
Criminal Law
The Utah Court of Appeals held:
- Defendant received ineffective assistance when counsel failed to request a specific jury unanimity instruction regarding Count 3 (aggravated sexual abuse of a child) because the State presented evidence of two factually distinct incidents into a single count without clearly explaining which act supported the charge.
- Defense counsel was not deficient, or Defendant was not by prejudiced by counsel, for: (1) stipulating to the admission of the victim’s therapy journal in exchange for the State’s stipulation to the admission of the CJC transcript, (2) arguing for probation and not asking the court, in the alternative, to impose a shorter prison sentence, (3) failing request more specific jury unanimity instructions for other charges of aggravated sexual abuse.
- All claims of ineffective assistance of counsel raised in Defendant’s accompanying rule 23B motion were denied.