The Appellate Group

State v. Wahlstrom

State v. Wahlstrom, 2026 UT App 143 (Luthy, J.)

Criminal Law

The Utah Court of Appeals held:

(1) Trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to coercive Allen charge where the only reasonable result from issuing the charge was that the minority of jurors favoring acquittal might agree to convict.
(2) The district court plainly erred by failing to properly resolve claimed inaccuracy in pre-sentence investigation report as required by Utah Code section 77-18-103(5)(a).

Practice tip:

An Allen charge directing a minority of jurors to question the reasonableness of their positions without also instructing jurors not to relinquish independently held convictions is coercive per se.

Read the full court opinion