Court Opinion

ID: 9617951
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:04:06.137887+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:21.154144
License: Public Domain

ORME, Associate Presiding Judge
(concurring in the result):
I agree that Utah Code Ann. § 10-3-928 (1992), permitting city attorneys to prosecute misdemeanor charges on behalf of the State, is constitutional. As far as I am concerned, however, all that needs to be said is that section 10-3-928 merely gives city attorneys the authority to prosecute state misdemeanors should they be so inclined, but imposes no affirmative responsibility on them to do so. Thus, “the city attorney may prosecute violations ... under state law,” id. (emphasis added), while the county attorney and district attorney shall prosecute in the name of the State, all criminal charges except those minor charges which city attorneys voluntarily undertake to pursue. See Utah Code Ann. §§ 17 — 18—l(l)(a) (Supp.1994); 17-18-1.7(l)(c) (Supp.1994). Because city attorneys have no actual responsibility to prosecute state charges, that responsibility — in a sense exclusive rather than merely primary — necessarily rests with elected public prosecutors.