Court Opinion

ID: 9613380
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:16:30.316065+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:54.778374
License: Public Domain

ORME, Judge
(concurring):
I concur in the court’s opinion. I write separately because this is a criminal case, and I believe in such cases we should be somewhat less fastidious in insisting upon compliance with technical requirements as a condition to reaching the merits. I would not be comfortable denying a criminal defendant any meaningful exercise of her constitutional right to an appeal merely because of superficial deficiencies in the brief prepared by her attorney.
That point having been made, I hasten to add this is not such an instance. I found it impossible to glean from her brief what appellant’s basic contentions are on appeal. Insofar as it is true that her complaint is about the legality of certain searches, where she takes no issue with the court’s findings (something she could not, as a practical matter, do without a transcript) there is little we can do. If the findings were inadequate, we would remand for adequate findings. See, e.g., State v. Lovegren, 798 P.2d 767, 771 (Utah App.1990). If the findings supported only a legal conclusion that the searches, or one of them, was illegal, we would reverse. See, e.g., State v. Elder, 815 P.2d 1341 (Utah App.1991). Neither scenario seems present here and nothing in appellant’s brief serves to convince me otherwise.
One other point merits comment. The problems attending an inadequate brief can sometimes be ameliorated with a helpful presentation at oral argument. See, e.g., Demetropoulos v. Vreeken, 754 P.2d 960, 962 n. 6 (Utah App.1988), cert. denied, Rone v. Demetropoulos, 765 P.2d 1278 (Utah 1988). In this case, under circumstances which inspire little confidence, we had the benefit of oral argument only by counsel for the State. As counsel’s cavalier attitude concerning this court’s calendaring requirements is not unique, I want to take the occasion to point up the argument protocol the judges of this court expect. The protocol is premised on the notion that appellate argument is a rather significant event in the life of an attorney.
Upon receipt of notice of argument, counsel should immediately check his or her calendar. Existing conflicts should ordinarily give way to the scheduled argument. Attendance at the Court of Appeals is a sufficient excuse for changing most depositions and meetings. A narrow range of existing conflicts may warrant a change of time for the appellate argument as scheduled, at least if a partner or associate can not capably make the argument. A *940first place trial setting in a case that will not be settled, a long-planned vacation where non-refundable arrangements have been made, and scheduled medical or surgical procedures may be examples. However, to minimize disruption for opposing counsel as well as the court, a motion requesting a continuance and setting forth the problem in some detail should be filed within a few days of receipt of the notice— not within a few days prior to argument. Once argument has been set, one simply does not permit inconsistent obligations to come into existence thereafter. There are few reasons for avoiding the setting of depositions, trials, or hearings better than “I am scheduled at the Court of Appeals that morning.”
Unless a well-supported motion to continue has been filed within a few days of receipt of our notice of argument, or argument is formally waived, we simply expect counsel to appear as scheduled unless an actual emergency, not reasonably to have been anticipated, arises and is brought to our attention as promptly as possible. If argument has not been previously waived as a matter of informed judgment, we assume the case merits argument, in which event it is simply unprofessional to just be a “no-show” even if a legitimate emergency has arisen.