Opinion ID: 2640798
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: ms. rhinehart failed to preserve the other issues for appeal

Text: ¶ 21 Ms. Rhinehart has asked us to take up the merits of her challenges to the manner in which the penalty phase of her proceeding was conducted and to the constitutionality of Utah's life without parole statute. See Utah Code Ann. § 76-3-207(5) (2004). These issues were not preserved below. Because they were not, we will not consider them absent plain error or exceptional circumstances. See State v. Holgate, 2000 UT 74, ¶ 11, 10 P.3d 346. Considering this rule, defendants are best served by presenting unpreserved arguments to this court through the lens of one or all of these exceptions. Without more, the presentation of the merits of an issue cannot access an exception to the preservation doctrine. Not only has Ms. Rhinehart failed to persuade us that any of her unpreserved issues are eligible for either exception to the preservation rule, she has declined to present an argument to support the application of either exception to those issues. We accordingly decline to address their merits.