The Appellate Group

State v. Conde

State v. Conde, 2026 UT App 149 (Luthy, J.)

Criminal Law

The Utah Court of Appeals held:

The district court did not err in declining to bindover on certain charges of theft by deception or in dismissing the charges where the State had not shown that Defendant acted with the requisite criminal intent.

Practice tip:

Mere negligence in the performance of a promise is insufficient to establish deception (for theft by deception), and commercial misfortune is not a crime.

Practice tip:

When a person timely commences on-the-ground performance of a construction contract, a subsequent failure to timely communicate with the customer does not support a reasonable inference that at the time of contracting, the person did not intent to perform or knew that he or she would not later perform as promised.

Read the full court opinion