Court Opinion

ID: 9796366
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:56:18.78826+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:50:10.508517
License: Public Domain

DURHAM, Chief Justice:
¶ 1 We granted Gino Maestas’s petitions for interlocutory appeal from two pre-trial orders. The first order denied Maestas’s motion to present expert testimony concerning eyewitness identification. The second concerned a previous trial on the same charges in which Maestas had been convicted of aggravated robbery, but his convictions were reversed on appeal. The district court granted the state’s motion to introduce in the second trial Maestas’s statements from his presentence report and his allocution from the first trial.
¶ 2 The following opinion is divided. As to the admission of expert testimony, a majority of the court — Associate Chief Justice Dur-rant with Justice Wilkins concurring and Justice Russon with Justice Howe concurring — holds that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant’s motion for the admission of expert testimony. Chief Justice Durham dissents.
¶ 3 As to the admission of defendant’s in-culpatory statements from his first trial, a majority of the court holds that such statements are inadmissible, and therefore reverses the trial court’s ruling. There is unanimous agreement on the inadmissibility of the defendant’s inculpatory statements contained in his presentence report. Regarding the inadmissibility of the defendant’s allocution statement, Justice Russon and Justice Howe concur with Chief Justice Durham that it is inadmissible, but for different reasons. Associate Chief Justice Durrant and *623Justice Wilkins dissent as to the inadmissibility of the allocution statement.
BACKGROUND
¶ 4 On the evening of February 20, 1995, two robberies were reported near downtown Salt Lake City.1 The first occurred at a Top Stop convenience store shortly after 8:00 p.m. The robber, dressed in a two-tone blue jacket and wearing a dark mask covering the lower part of his face, confronted a store clerk with a gun and demanded money. The robber took between thirty and forty dollars from the cash register and six dollars from the clerk’s wallet. The store clerk reported that the robber jogged to a car parked approximately one block away. The clerk was unsure about his description of the car due to the rainy weather conditions and poor lighting, but thought it was a gold-colored, mid-1980’s model Camaro.
¶ 5 Sometime between eight-thirty and nine on the same evening, a similarly-dressed person entered a Pizza Hut and robbed several persons. The robber took between $160 and $170 from the cash register, including approximately $10 in change, $15 to $20 from one employee, $6 from another employee, a day-planner pouch containing $15 in bills and change from one of the customers, and several crumpled dollar bills from another customer. The robber demanded that two other employees surrender their wedding rings, but they refused to do so. None of the victims of the robbery saw how the robber left the area, but a witness outside the Pizza Hut informed police that someone had driven from the parking lot in a blue 1977 or 1978 Camaro.2
¶ 6 At approximately nine p.m., an officer investigating the Pizza Hut robbery noticed Gino Maestas’s (Maestas) blue 1978 Camaro parked in the driveway of an apartment building approximately three-and-a-half blocks from the Pizza Hut. The officer discovered the car’s hood was still warm and that it contained a blue and green jacket and a few crumpled dollar bills. Watching from across the street, the officer observed Maes-tas and a friend, Mary Sisneros (Sisneros), come out of the apartment building and drive away in the Camaro. Shortly thereafter, police converged on the Camaro and arrested Maestas.
¶ 7 At trial, Maestas testified in his own defense. He asserted he had not committed the robberies, maintaining he had been at a family party at Sisneros’s residence from about 5:30 p.m. until the time he and Sisne-ros attempted to go to a store but were stopped by the police. Although the robber wore a hat and mask over his mouth and nose, several witnesses positively identified Maestas at trial. Defense counsel did not request that the trial court give a cautionary instruction concerning the reliability of eyewitness identification testimony.
¶ 8 The jury convicted Maestas of eight counts of aggravated burglary. Prior to sentencing, as part of the presentence investigation, Maestas handwrote a “Statement of the Offense” for an Adult Probation and Parole (AP & P) investigator. In his statement, Maestas admitted committing the robberies and provided several details not adduced at trial: he stated he committed the robberies to get money “to get high” and that he used a toy gun. Maestas’s statements were included in the presentence investigation report (presentence report).
¶ 9 The sentencing matrix in the presen-tence report indicated a prison sentence of seven years for each of the eight counts. When asked by the sentencing judge if he had anything to say before sentence was pronounced, Maestas, unaware that he would successfully appeal his convictions and win a new trial based on ineffective assistance of counsel, took the court’s invitation to explain something about who he is and how he came to be in his unhappy situation. Specifically, *624he talked about his involvement with drugs, and stated “I wasn’t going to hurt anybody .... I would like some leniency from the court on that. [Fifty-six] years, that’s my whole life in prison. I can be changed. I have showed that before.” During the course of his statement, Maestas said that he committed the robberies and that he felt remorse for the victims.
¶ 10 The court then sentenced Maestas to five years to life for each of the eight counts of aggravated robbery, and added a firearm enhancement of one year to each count. In addition, the court ruled that count I, arising from the Top Stop robbery, and count II, arising from the robbery of one of the individuals at Pizza Hut, would run consecutively. The remaining six counts, all arising from the Pizza Hut robberies, would run concurrently with counts I and II.
¶ 11 On appeal, we reversed Maestas’s convictions, holding that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel at his trial. Maes-tas I, 1999 UT 32 at ¶¶ 32-37, 984 P.2d 376. Specifically, we held that “trial counsel’s failure to request a cautionary eyewitness instruction ... [had] prejudiced Maestas.” Id. at ¶ 37.
¶ 12 On remand to the district court for retrial, Maestas moved to suppress the eyewitness identifications provided by seven witnesses to the robberies. The court heard testimony from six of the seven witnesses and reviewed the testimony of all the witnesses in the transcripts of the first trial. With respect to three of the witnesses, the court granted Maestas’s motion, concluding that the positive identifications provided by those witnesses were not sufficiently reliable. The court denied the motion as to the four remaining witnesses.
¶ 13 Maestas and the state also submitted a number of pre-trial motions to admit evidence. Specifically, Maestas moved to allow expert testimony relative to eyewitness identification and moved to suppress the inculpa-tory statements he made prior to sentencing in the first trial. The state moved to admit the statements. The court denied Maestas’s motion to present expert testimony regarding the reliability of the eyewitness identifications, ruling that a jury instruction could sufficiently inform the jury of “concerns about and factors affecting accuracy of eyewitness identification.” The court further concluded that “allowing an expert to testify on the unreliability of eyewitness testimony would have a significant tendency to cause the jury to abdicate its role as a fact finder.”
¶ 14 With respect to inculpatory statements from the sentencing phase of his first trial, Maestas argued that admission of those statements on retrial would compromise his rights to allocution and appeal, would violate his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and would violate rule 24(d) of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure. The trial court rejected Maestas’s arguments and ruled that his inculpatory statements were admissible on retrial in the prosecution’s case-in-chief.
¶ 15 Maestas petitioned this court for permission to appeal both the order denying permission to present expert testimony and the order admitting his inculpatory statements from the presentence report and the sentencing hearing. The state concurred in this petition, and we granted Maestas permission to appeal both interlocutory orders.
ANALYSIS
¶ 16 We first note the scope of our review on interlocutory appeal. See Utah R.App. P. 5(e). We agreed to review the court’s denial of Maestas’s motion to admit expert testimony and the court’s grant of the state’s motion to admit evidence of Maestas’s statements to AP & P and to the trial court at the time of sentencing. We do not address the court’s decisions relating to the admissibility of specific witnesses’ identifications of Maestas.
I. MAESTAS’S MOTION TO PRESENT EXPERT TESTIMONY ON EYEWITNESS IDENTIFICATIONS
¶ 17 The first issue presented by Maestas is whether the trial court erred in refusing to allow expert testimony regarding eyewitness identifications. The court held that four of the eyewitnesses to the robberies will be permitted to testify that Maestas is the person who committed the robberies. As to the *625other eyewitnesses, the court held that they be allowed to relate other details of the robberies that they observed. Maestas argues that because the eyewitness identifications are critical to the state’s case, the trial court erred in ruling that he cannot present the expert testimony of Dr. David Dodd concerning the reliability of eyewitness identification testimony.
¶ 18 Concerns about eyewitness testimony were central to our holding in Maestas I, where we noted that prior cases “have summarized the empirical studies questioning the reliability of eyewitness identification.” 1999 UT 32 at ¶ 25, 984 P.2d 376. Specifically, in State v. Long, we observed that “[t]he studies all lead inexorably to the conclusion that human perception is inexact and that human memory is both limited and fallible.” 721 P.2d 483, 488 (Utah 1986). In connection with the first trial, we held that Maestas’s counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to take action to educate the jury about the limitations on the reliability of eyewitness identifications. Maestas I, 1999 UT 32 at ¶ 30, 984 P.2d 376. In Maestas I, we explained that expert testimony was a possible method by which Maestas’s attorney might educate the jury regarding the limitations of eyewitness identifications. Id. We held that in the absence of a legitimate tactical basis for refusing to do so, effective assistance requires, at a minimum, that defense counsel request a cautionary instruction. See id. at ¶¶ 32, 37.
¶ 19 Maestas now asserts that he cannot receive a fair trial without presenting expert testimony on the credibility of eyewitness identification. I agree, and would reverse as to this issue. The general rule for admissibility of expert testimony is set out in rule 702 of the Utah Rules of Evidence which conditions the admissibility of expert testimony on whether it “will assist the trier of fact to understand evidence or to determine a fact in issue” or will be “helpful to the finder of fact.” State v. Larsen, 865 P.2d 1355, 1361 (Utah 1993). With regard to the admissibility of expert testimony, “[t]he trial court has wide discretion ..., and such decisions are reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard.” Id. (citations omitted). Under this standard, we will not reverse a decision to admit or exclude expert testimony unless the decision “exceeds the limits of reasonability.” State v. Hollen, 2002 UT 35, ¶ 66, 44 P.3d 794 (citation omitted).
¶ 20 In Hollen, this court held that the trial court’s ruling excluding the expert’s opinion did not exceed the “limits of reasona-bility,” after placing the “trial court’s decision in its proper context.” Id. at ¶ 67. We considered that the expert was permitted to give extensive testimony regarding the factors affecting the reliability of eyewitness identifications, and was only limited in expressing his overall opinion on eyewitness identification. Id. at ¶¶ 67-68. Since the expert in Hollen had already been given an opportunity to educate the jury on the impact of eyewitness identification, we found that the trial court did not abuse its discretion. Id. at ¶ 69.
¶ 21 In State v. Butterfield, this court also upheld the exclusion of expert testimony because the expert’s testimony “did not deal with the specific facts” of the case, but “would constitute a lecture to the jury about how it should judge the evidence.” 2001 UT 59, ¶44, 27 P.3d 1133. In Butterfield, the expert was not familiar with the defendant or the facts of the case and he would only have outlined for the jury the general principles of psychological knowledge which illuminate the problems of eyewitness performance. Id. In addition, there was “no showing that the excluded evidence would probably have had a substantial influence in bringing about a different verdict.” Id. at ¶ 43 (quoting State v. Malmrose, 649 P.2d 56, 61 (Utah 1982)).
¶ 22 The circumstances of this case differ from those in Butterfield and Hollen. Unlike ⅛ Hollen, where the trial court allowed the expert on eyewitness testimony to testify about the factors that affect the reliability of identifications, the trial court here did not allow an expert on eyewitness testimony to testify at all. The expert was not allowed to give any testimony about the factors that affect the reliability of identifications, or relate his knowledge gained after examining specific facts from this case. In addition, unlike in Butterfield where the expert was not familiar with the facts of the case, Dr. *626Dodd plans to testify about the factors specific to the Maestas ease that could influence the accuracy of an eyewitness. Before testifying, Dr. Dodd would review police reports, eyewitness transcripts from preliminary hearings, photo spreads or pictures of lineups, and then review the research most relevant to this case. While in Butterfield, where the excluded evidence would not have a substantial influence in bringing about a different verdict, here it might have a substantial influence because the prosecution’s case rests almost exclusively on eyewitness testimony. The lower court has already concluded that all other evidence in this case, aside from the eyewitness testimony, is inconclusive or weak, especially given the gaps left unfilled by evidence of what the police officers did not find in defendant’s possession. Maestas I, 1999 UT 32 at ¶¶ 29-31, 34-36, 984 P.2d 376. The prosecution’s case thus rests on eyewitness testimony, and the jury’s consideration of guilt or innocence will depend on the weight they give to this testimony, including how accurate they view the testimony to be. Thus, in my view, offering an expert’s testimony regarding the reliability of the eyewitness testimony in this case is particularly crucial for the fact finder.
¶ 23 Finally, in State v. Long this court warned that “research has convincingly demonstrated the weaknesses inherent in eyewitness identification[; however,] jurors are, for the most part, unaware of these problems.” 721 P.2d 483, 490 (Utah 1986). The Long instruction itself, while better than no education at all, can only give the jury general information, which itself only comes after all the evidence is in. Expert testimony, targeted to the specific evidence in the case, will be far more helpful to the jury in considering whether witnesses are in fact correct in identifying a particular defendant as a perpetrator. Recent experience with the re-examination of evidence in capital and other felony cases, using new DNA identification techniques, has conclusively established that eyewitnesses can be mistaken, for many reasons that are beyond the general knowledge and experience of the average juror. See Gary L. Wells, http:umw.psychology.iastate.edu/ faculty/gwells/homepage. htm (summarizing seven recent Associated Press articles examining the wrongful convictions of 110 inmates who were exonerated by the use of DNA testing; their collective prison time exceeded I,000 years). Jurors, as well as defendants, are entitled to the information experts on human memory can provide about its operation. Although the weaknesses of eyewitness identification will not warrant automatic allowance of eyewitness experts in all cases, given all the factors in this case, expert testimony will act to clarify eyewitness testimony and ensure that Maestas receives a fair trial.
¶ 24 In light of our holdings in Hollen, Butterfield and Long, I would therefore hold that defendant’s expert must be allowed to testify at trial.
II. ADMISSION OF MAESTAS’S IN-CULPATORY STATEMENTS FROM THE SENTENCING PHASE OF HIS FIRST TRIAL
¶ 25 Maestas next challenges the trial court’s order allowing the prosecution to admit inculpatory statements he made following his first trial in his presentence report and at the sentencing hearing. We address first the admissibility of Maestas’s statements in his presentence report, concluding that the provisions of the Utah Code governing the release of presentence reports preclude disclosure of Maestas’s statements contained within the report. We then address the admissibility of Maestas’s statement at the sentencing hearing, concluding that the statement is inadmissible.

A. Admissibility of the Presentence Report

¶ 26 After being convicted of the robberies at his first trial, Maestas hand-wrote his version of the robberies on a “Statement of the Offense” form, which was then included as part of the presentence report. In his statement, Maestas admitted to robbing the “restaurant” and “gas station.”
¶ 27 After Maestas was granted a new trial in Maestas I, the prosecution sought to admit his statements from his presentence report during the new trial. Because the trial court concluded that “nothing in the record suggested] that defendant’s written statement *627... was not voluntary,” the trial court ruled that the prosecution could admit the incriminating statements from this report as part of its case-in-chief.
¶ 28 Maestas appeals this ruling, raising several constitutional and statutory claims. In particular, Maestas contends that admission of the statements from his presentence report would violate (1) his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination; (2) his right to alloeute and appeal; (3) subsection 77-18-l(5)(d) (1999)3 of the Utah Code, which Maestas claims makes presentence reports unavailable for purposes other than sentencing; and (4) subsection 4-202.02(6)(C) of the Utah Rules of Judicial Administration, which requires that presentence reports be treated as controlled judicial records. Because we conclude that section 77-18-1 and related statutes preclude admission of the presentence report, we focus exclusively on this aspect of Maestas’s argument.
¶ 29 Section 77-18-1 delineates, inter alia, the preparation and disclosure requirements for presentence reports. Subsection 77-18-1(5) deals specifically with the Department of Corrections’s responsibilities in preparing the report:
(5) (a) Prior to the imposition of sentence, the court may, with the concurrence of the defendant, continue the date for the imposition of the sentence for a reasonable period of time for the purpose of obtaining a presentenee investigation report from the [Department [of Corrections] ....
(b) The presentence investigation report shall include a victim impact statement (e) The presentence investigation report shall include a specific statement of pecuniary damages ....
(d) The contents of the presentence investigation report ... are not available except by court order for purposes of sentencing as provided by rule of the Judicial Council or for use by the department.
Utah Code Ann. § 77-18-1(5) (Supp.2001). Maestas relies on subsection 77-18-l(5)(d) to argue that his presentence report is “available for purposes of sentencing” only and thus inadmissible in the prosecution’s casein-chief.
¶ 30 As discussed below, Maestas overlooks the fact that the disclosure limitations specified in section 77-18-l(5)(d) are replaced by less stringent limitations once a presentence report has been completed and reviewed for accuracy. Subsection 77-18-1(5), as we have noted, deals with the preparation of the report. The fact that subsection (5)(d)’s strict disclosure limitation falls within a subsection focusing exclusively on the report’s preparation indicates that the legislature intended that the limitation apply only to the preparation phase of the report.
¶ 31 Strict access control during the report’s preparation apparently arose out of the legislature’s concerns over releasing possibly inaccurate information. During the preparation phase, the parties have not had an opportunity to challenge the report’s accuracy. This opportunity comes once the Department of Corrections completes its preparation of the report, as shown in subsection 77-18-1(6):
(6) (a) The department shall provide the presentence investigation report to the defendant’s attorney, or the defendant if not represented by counsel, the prosecutor, and the court for review, three working days prior to sentencing. Any alleged inaccuracies in the presentence investigation report, which have not been resolved by the parties and the department prior to sentencing, shall be brought to the attention of the sentencing judge, and the judge may grant an additional ten working days to resolve the alleged inaccuracies of the report with the department. If after ten *628working days the inaccuracies cannot be resolved, the court shall make a determination of the relevance and accuracy on the record.
(b)If a party fails to challenge the accuracy of the presentenee investigation report at the time of sentencing, that matter shall be considered to be waived.
Utah Code Ann. § 77-18-1(6) (Supp.2001).
¶ 32 After completion of the review detailed in subsection 77-18-1(6), the information in a presentence report is presumptively accurate. The report is then used to inform the court’s decision regarding the proper sentence.
¶ 33 Subsection 77-18-1(14) then addresses the disclosure limitations on the completed and presumptively accurate reports. Significantly, despite classifying the reports as “protected” under the Government Records Access and Management Act, subsection 77-18-1(14) lists five conditions under which the report may be disclosed for purposes other than sentencing:
(14) Presentence investigation reports, including presentence diagnostic evaluations, are classified protected in accordance with Title 63, Chapter 2, Government Records Access and Management Act. Notwithstanding Sections 63-2-403 and 63-2-104, the State Records Committee may not order the disclosure of a presentence investigation report. Except for disclosure at the time of sentencing pursuant to this section, the [Department [of Corrections] may disclose the presentence investigation only when:
(a) ordered by the court pursuant to Subsection 63-2-202(7);
(b) requested by a law enforcement agency or other agency approved by the department for purposes of supervision, confinement, and treatment of the offender;
(c) requested by the Board of Pardons and Parole;
(d) requested by the subject of the pre-sentence investigation report or subject’s authorized representative; or
(e) requested by the victim of the crime discussed in the presentence investigation report or the victim’s authorized representative, provided that the disclosure to the victim shall include only information relating to statements or material provided by the victim, to the circumstances of the crime including statements by the defendant, or to the impact of the crime on the victim or the victim’s household.
Id. § 77-18-1(14) (emphasis added).
¶ 34 Of particular relevance to the trial court’s order in this case is subsection 77-18-l(14)(a), which provides that the Department of Corrections may disclose presenteneing reports “when ordered by the court pursuant to Subsection 63-2-202(7).” Id. Based on subsection 77-18-l(14)(a), Maestas’s presen-tence report is subject to court-ordered disclosure if the order complies with subsection 63-2-202(7).
¶ 35 We thus turn to subsection 63-2-202(7) to determine whether the trial court properly ordered disclosure of Maestas’s pre-sentence report for use in the prosecution’s ease-in-chief. Subsection 63-2-202(7) of the Utah Code falls within a statute entitled, “Access to private, controlled, and protected records.” Utah Code Ann. § 63-2-202 (Supp.2001). Subsection 63-2-202(7) deals specifically with the conditions governing access to such records based on a “court order signed by a judge from a court of competent jurisdiction.” Id. § 63-2-202(7).
¶ 36 By its terms, subsection 63-2-202(7) places several conditions on court-ordered disclosure of presentence reports:
(7) A government entity shall disclose a record pursuant to the terms of a court order signed by a judge from a court of competent jurisdiction, provided that:
(a) the record deals with a matter in controversy over which the court has jurisdiction;
(b) the court has considered the merits of the request for access to the record; and
(c) the court has considered and, where appropriate, limited the requester’s use and further disclosure of the record in order to protect ... privacy interests or the public interest in the case of other protected records;
*629(d) to the extent that the record is properly classified ... protected, the interests favoring access, considering limitations thereon, outweigh the interests favoring restriction of access; and
(e) where access is restricted by ... statute ... referred to in Subsection 63-2-201(3)(b), the court has authority independent of this chapter to order disclosure.
Id. § 63-2-202(7).
¶ 37 Since the trial court apparently was not made aware of subsection 78-1-18(15) or its reference to subsection 63-2-202(7), the court reached no conclusion with respect to subsection 63-2-202(7)’s conditions regarding court-ordered disclosure. In addition, neither Maestas nor the state advances any arguments with respect to these conditions.
¶ 38 Based on our analysis, we conclude that, as a matter of law, disclosure of the report does not satisfy the requirements of subsection 63-2-202(7). Specifically, the circumstances in this case meet only three of the five conditions enumerated in subsection 63-2-202(7):
(1) Maestas’s admissions concerning the robberies in his presentenee report “deal[ ] with a matter in controversy over which the [trial] court has jurisdiction.” Id. § 63-2-202(7)(a);
(2) by granting the state’s request for disclosure, the court apparently “considered the merits of the request for access to” Maestas’s statements in the report. Id. § 63-2-202(7)(b); and
(3) although “access to [the report] is restricted by a ... statute [i.e., section 77-18-1],” subsection 77-18-15(a) allows for disclosure by court order and gives courts “authority independent of ... chapter [2] to order disclosure.” Id. § 63-2-202(7)(e). ¶ 39 We are not satisfied, however, that
the two remaining conditions specified by section 63-2-202 are met. First, there is no evidence that the court “considered and, where appropriate, limited the requester’s use and further disclosure of the record in order to protect ... privacy interests or the public interest.” Id. § 63-2~202(7)(e). Indeed, rather than considering more limited uses of the report (e.g., disclosure only for impeachment purposes), the court ordered that the requester (i.e., the prosecution) could publicly disclose Maestas’s statements during its case-in-chief.
¶40 Second, we conclude that even limited disclosure of the presentencing report is unwarranted. In particular, subsection 63-2-202(7)(d) requires that the interests favoring the permitted scope of access outweigh the interests favoring restriction of access before disclosure is ordered. We believe that the exclusion of the presentence report in the prosecution’s case-in-chief is supported by the same concerns laid out hereafter in our analysis. Briefly, a defendant’s statements repeated in a presentence report are functionally equivalent to his statements at sentencing in that they are both made pursuant to his right to petition the court for mercy. We conclude that any interest favoring access to the presentence report by the state are outweighed by Maes-tas’s legislatively-recognized privacy interest in the records.
¶ 41 Under the circumstances, we hold that the interests favoring non-disclosure prevail. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s order allowing the prosecution to admit in its case-in-ehief Maestas’s statements in his pre-sentence report. Having determined that the Utah Code is dispositive of the issue, we need not reach Maestas’s arguments under the federal or state constitution or the Utah Code of Judicial Administration.

B. Admissibility of the Allocution

¶ 42 We next turn to the question of whether the trial court erred in ruling admissible Maestas’s allocution statement. Maes-tas contends admission of the statement violates his right to be placed in “the same position” on retrial under rule 24(d) of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure. We conclude that rule 24(d) requires exclusion of Maestas’s allocution from the prosecution’s ease-in-chief in the retrial.4
¶ 43 Maestas contends that his allocution statements are inadmissible on retrial under *630rule 24(d) of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure. We briefly note the context of rule 24(d) before detailing the specifies of Maestas’s argument. Rule 24(d) falls within a rule entitled, “Motion for a new trial.” After rules 24(a) through 24(c) detail the authority and procedures for a motion for a new trial, rule 24(d) provides that “[i]f a new trial is granted, the party shall be in the same position as if no trial has been held and the former verdict shall not be used or mentioned either in evidence or argument.”5
¶44 Citing the language of rule 24(d), Maestas argues that he would not be “in the same position as if no trial had been held” if his allocution statements were used at his new trial. Maestas allows for the possibility that rule 24(d) directly applies only to a new trial arising from a motion, and not to a new trial arising from his successful appeal, but contends that even if rule 24(d) is limited to a new trial arising from a motion, “due process and equal protection” require that a defendant receive the same protections when the new trial arises from an appeal.
¶45 We decline to decide whether rule 24(d) applies to new trials after appeal6 because the parties have inadequately briefed this issue, and resolving it is unnecessary in this case. Instead, we rely on our supervisory powers to craft an analogous rule applicable here. As a matter of policy, we see no reason to treat the admissibility of evidence concerning a prior verdict differently depending on whether an accused receives a new trial through a motion or through an appeal. Accordingly, we use the language of rule 24(d) as a guide to the admissibility of Maestas’s allocution statements.
1. Allocution Under the Common Law and Utah Law
¶ 46 At common law, allocution was the formal inquiry of one already convicted of a capital or treasonous offense before passing sentence; it was used to determine if a legal cause would prevent the sentence’s execution. See Caren Myers, Note, Encouraging Allocution at Capital Sentencing: A Proposal for Use Immunity, 97 Colum. L.Rev. 787, *631798-99 (1997). The standard question asked was, “Do you know of any reason why judgment should not be pronounced upon you?” See Paul W. Barrett, Allocution, 9 Mo. L.Rev. 115, 115 (1944). As the practice of allocution developed, it took on a less formalistic character, becoming also a means for the defendant to request understanding and mercy. See 1 Joseph Chitty, A Practical Treatise on the Criminal Law 700 (photo, reprint 1978) (London, A.J. Valpy 1816).
¶ 47 Even prior to the writing and adoption of our state constitution, Utah territorial law required the physical presence of a convicted felon at sentencing. Compiled Laws of Utah, Code of Criminal Procedures, Title VII, § 5102 s 326 (1888). If a defendant did not appear for sentencing after being released on bail, and was subsequently brought to court pursuant to a bench warrant, defendant had to “be asked whether he has any legal cause to show why judgmfent should not be pronounced against him.” Id. at § 5108 s 332. Subsequently, the Utah Constitution guaranteed a defendant “the right to appear and defend in person.” Utah Const., art. I, § 12. Thus, from the beginning of the development of this state’s criminal procedures, a high value was placed on a defendant’s availability and opportunity to speak at trial and sentencing.
¶ 48 Allocution is an “inseparable part” of the right to appear and defend in person guaranteed by the Utah Constitution. State v. Anderson, 929 P.2d 1107, 1109-10 (Utah 1996). This court has previously addressed allocution, literally “[a] speaking to [or] addressing[,]” 1 Oxford English Dictionary, 236 (1961), under article I, section 12 of the Utah Constitution in State v. Young, 853 P.2d 327, 358-59 (Utah 1993) (convicted person denied allocution before sentencing phase for aggravated murder where death penalty requested by the state). In Young, the court considered whether allocution is constitutionally guaranteed, but decided that it did not have to answer that question to resolve the claim raised. Three years later in Anderson, reviewing a convicted person’s voluntary absence from his sentencing, we stated that under article I, section 12 of the Utah constitution:
Utah Rule of Criminal Procedure 22 implements the constitutional right [of allocution], providing:
(a)....
Before imposing sentence the court shall afford the defendant an opportunity to make a statement and to present any information in mitigation of punishment, or to show any legal cause why sentence should not be imposed.
State v. Anderson, 929 P.2d at 1109-10 (emphasis added) (quoting Utah R.Crim. P. 22(a)). While Anderson concluded that the defendant had voluntarily waived his right to be present, it nonetheless affirmed the existence of a right to allocution: “The right to allocution is nowhere specifically granted in ... the state ... constitution. It is an inseparable part of the right to be present.” Id. at 1111 (emphasis added). Thus, in Anderson, this court clearly and thoughtfully recognized a constitutionally guaranteed right to allocution.
¶ 49 The right to allocution would be meaningless if a convicted person’s allocution statements could be used against him or her in a subsequent prosecution. Under such a rule, a competent attorney would almost always advise the client against allocuting, at least in any case in which an appeal is contemplated. See Myers at 789 n. 9. Trial judges would have to inform defendants at allocution that their statements could be used against them at any retrial. It is not likely that defendants would be willing to make any incriminating admissions after such a warning.
¶ 50 This case need not turn on constitutional questions, however, because the policy embodied in rule 24(d) is determinative.7
2. Admissibility Under Rule 24(d)
¶ 51 Rule 24(d) of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure provides:
*632If a new trial is granted, the party shall be in the same position as if no tHal had been held and the former verdict shall not be used or mentioned either in evidence or in argument.8
Utah R.Crim. P. 24 (emphasis added).
¶ 52 Our court has held that “[w]hen interpreting statutes, our primary goal is to evince ‘the true intent and purpose of the Legislature.’ ” Utah v. Tooele County, 2002 UT 8, ¶ 10, 44 P.3d 680 (citing Jensen v. Intermountain Health Care, Inc., 679 P.2d 903, 906 (Utah 1984)). The plain language of the statute provides us with the road map to the statute’s meaning, helping to clarify the intent and purpose behind its enactment. Id. (citations omitted). When reading the statutory language, our purpose is “to render all parts [of the statute] relevant and meaningful,” id. (emphasis added) (citing Millett v. Clark Clinic Corp., 609 P.2d 934, 936 (Utah 1980)), and thus, we “presume the legislature use[d] each term advisedly and ... according to its ordinary meaning.” Id. (citing Nelson v. Salt Lake County, 905 P.2d 872, 875 (Utah 1995)). As a result, we “avoid interpretations that will render portions of a statute superfluous or inoperative.” Id. (citing Hall v. Utah State Dep’t of Corr., 2001 UT 34, ¶ 15, 24 P.3d 958) (other citation omitted).
¶ 53 As is the case in construing statutes, this court’s rules of practice and procedure require close attention to their exact language. “It is an elementary rule of construction that effect must be given, if possible, to every word, clause and sentence of a statute .... No elause[,] sentence or word shall be construed as superfluous, void or insignificant if the construction can be found which will give force to and preserve all the words of the statute.” Norman J. Singer, 2A Sutherland Statutory Construction § 46:06 (4th ed.1984). Therefore, our analysis of rule 24 should begin by giving meaning to the first part of the rule requiring that a party must be placed “in the same position as if no trial had been held[,]” after the vacation of a conviction. This language is critical; rule 24(d) is written in the conjunctive, thus making clear that it has two separate requirements — the defendant must be placed in the same position and the prior verdict must not be mentioned. The language in no way indicates that specific mention of the verdict, the most obvious but clearly not the only item that the prosecution might want to admit as the direct result of the first trial, is the only thing that must be avoided at a new trial. Obviously, for example, other aspects of the first trial, including references to who testified, to objections made or waived, or to the judge’s rulings, would be forbidden by the rule, even though such references would not mention the “verdict.” Generally, it will not be possible to allude in any way to the first trial without raising questions about the verdict. Thus, a problem exists regarding the context for use of allocution statements at the retrial. That context will likely raise some questions in at least some jurors’ minds as to how the statements came to be made.
¶ 54 Another important rule regarding “whole statute” interpretation, also relevant to the construction of procedural rules, states: “A statute is passed as a whole and not in parts or sections and is animated by one general purpose and intent. Consequently, each part or section should be construed in connection with every other part or section so as to produce a harmonious whole.” Singer, supra, § 96:05. Rule 24 permits a trial court to “grant a new trial in the interest of justice if there is any error or impropriety which had a substantial impact upon the rights of a party.” Utah R.Crim. P. 24(a). Thus, the rule is an overall expression of the need to rectify any error in the trial process that significantly impacted a defendant’s rights. In order to “harmonize” sub-part (a) with subpart (d) of the rule, the phrasing of subpart (d) should be read to accomplish the overall goal of the rule as set out in subpart (a). Granting a defendant a new trial because of a significant denial of his or her rights during the first trial, but then penalizing the same defendant for the exercise of a constitutional and statutory right to *633allocution, violates the spirit and the letter of rule 24. See Harvey v. State, 835 P.2d 1074, 1135 (Wyo.1992) (Golden, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (arguing in dissent that key goal of sentencing is basing punishment on humanitarian principles, with allocution playing role of allowing the convicted person to influence the sentence given. “If the conviction and sentence are reversed on appeal and the defendant once again put in jeopardy, why should not the parties return to the level playing field, neither side having gained an unfair advantage as a result of the process?”).
¶ 55 Allocution has long played an important role in sentencing following conviction, perhaps as much for psychological as for legal reasons. There are significant differences between the fact-finding and sentencing aspects of a trial. As Justice Powell has stated, “The sentencer’s function is not to discover a fact, but to mete out just deserts [sic] as he sees them.” Bullington v. Missouri, 451 U.S. 430, 450, 101 S.Ct. 1852, 68 L.Ed.2d 270 (1981) (Powell, J., dissenting) (capital case). The Hebrew High Holiday liturgy provides an apt example of the role allocution plays in judgment. After confession of individual and communal wrongs, the supplicants beseech God to deal with them compassionately, requesting mercy even though they have no worthy deeds to present to the judge. (“Avinu Malkeinu,” Mahzor for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, the Rabbinical Assembly, United Synagogue of America, 750-52 (Rabbi Jules Harlow ed., 1997 printing)). That even the guilty may plead for mercy or compassion is fundamental to our legal system. As rule 24 recognizes, after a conviction is set aside, a defendant is entitled to be restored to the circumstances existing before the trial, including the right to remain silent and force the state to convict him on the facts it can establish independent of his admissions at sentencing.
¶ 56 We acknowledge the dilemma faced by the system here: Why should a defendant be able to seek the benefits of a confession at
allocution, but avoid the costs at retrial? On the other hand, should the exercise of the right to plead for mercy deprive a defendant who has been unlawfully convicted of a clean slate at his or her retrial? On balance, we conclude that it is better to permit a defendant to freely exercise his right to petition for mercy, however much he might be tempted to shade the tenor or accuracy of his remarks, than to require his petition to be made in the shadow of a future prosecution. In fact, the competing values and motives operating at trial and at sentencing create some doubt that confessions obtained at the latter will be entirely reliable. Most defense counsel and many defendants are well aware that claims of innocence, after a trial has resulted in an adjudication of guilt, are not only likely to fall on deaf ears, but also may offend or disturb the sentencer, who must consider factors such as a defendant’s acceptance of personal responsibility and willingness to be rehabilitated. Furthermore, a defendant’s attitude toward the crime for which he has been convicted, as reflected in his statement to the court at allocution, may also affect the way he is viewed and treated by the Board of Pardons and Parole if he is imprisoned. Finally, in some cases, defendants convicted of certain crimes are not even eligible for probation and treatment programs at sentencing unless they confess guilt. See, e.g., Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-406.5(l)(h) (2001) (providing that court’s discretion, defendant may have sentence suspended and be released to a residential sexual abuse center if, among other conditions, he “admits the offense of which he has been convicted.”). It is not implausible that even an innocent person (and one, moreover, who has not received a fair trial and intends to challenge it on appeal) might falsely admit to a crime in order to obtain some advantage or leniency at sentencing. It seems fundamentally unfair to burden the right to plead for leniency at allocution with an automatic waiver of the right, on retrial, to require the state to prove guilt without the use of the contents of those pleadings.9 Rule 24 was intended to *634preclude that result after a motion for a new trial, and we apply the same principle here.
CONCLUSION
¶ 57 Again, we note that the opinion is divided. Regarding the admission of expert testimony, the majority of this court affirms the trial court’s denial of Maestas’s motion.
¶ 58 As to the second issue, regarding the district court’s order permitting the state’s introduction of Maestas’s inculpatory statements from his presentence report and his allocution during the sentencing phase of his first trial, the majority of this court reverses the district court’s order. Neither the pre-sentence report nor statements from the allo-cution are admissible for use by the state in its case-in-chief.
¶ 59 We remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

. We present an abbreviated version of the facts in this case. For a more detailed version, the reader is referred to our opinion in State v. Maestas, 1999 UT 32, ¶¶2-19, 984 P.2d 376 ("Maestas I”).

. Neither this witness, nor the officer with whom the witness spoke, testified. A backup officer testified that the officer had told him of the witness's description of the car. In addition, another officer testified that there had been a police broadcast that the suspect may be in a "1978 or late 1970s model" blue Camaro.

. Although the robberies were allegedly committed in 1995, Maestas cites the 1999 version of section 77-18-1. Because the relevant portions of the current versions of section 77-18-1 and 63-2-202 are substantially identical to the versions in effect at the time of the alleged robberies, we cite the most current official code supplement. In this regard, we note that prior to the deletion in 2001 of a subsection dealing with restitution, a topic irrelevant to our analysis, subsection 77-18-1(14), which we later cite in this opinion, was formerly subsection 77-18-1(15). See H.B. 26, 54th Leg., Gen. Sess., 2001 Utah Laws 699-702; compare Utah Code Ann. § 77-18-1(14) (Supp.2001), with Utah Code Ann. § 77-18-1(15) (1994).

. We do not reach Maestas's federal constitutional arguments.

. In its entirety, rule 24 provides:
Rule 24. Motion for a new trial.
(a) The court may, upon motion of a party or upon its own initiative, grant a new trial in the interest of justice if there is any error or impropriety which had a substantial adverse effect upon the rights of a party.
(b) A motion for a new trial shall be made in writing and upon notice. The motion shall be accompanied by affidavits or evidence of the essential facts in support of the motion. If additional time is required to procure affidavits or evidence the court may postpone the hearing on the motion for such time as it deems reasonable.
(c) A motion for a new trial shall be made within 10 days after imposition of sentence, or within such further time as the court may fix during the ten-day period.
(d) If a new trial is granted, the party shall be in the same position as if no trial had been held and the former verdict shall not be used or mentioned either in evidence or in argument.
Utah R.Crim. P. 24.

. We note that, over one hundred years ago, the United States Supreme Court directly applied a Utah territorial statute similar in language to rule 24(d) to a trial after a successful appeal. Hopt v. Utah, 120 U.S. 430, 442, 7 S.Ct. 614, 30 L.Ed. 708 (1887) (applying to new trial after reversal a Utah territorial regulation that provided that " 'the granting of a new trial places all the parties in the same position as if no trial had been had,’ and 'all the testimony must be produced anew, and the former verdict cannot be used or referred to either in evidence or argument' ”) (quoting 1878 Utah Laws, § 317). With the evolution of the "law of the case doctrine," and the current structure of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure, the "same position” language is likely not equally applicable to retrials after successful appeal.
Under the "law of the case doctrine,” a defendant’s legal “position” will often differ depending on how the defendant received a new trial. Specifically, a successful appellee may begin a new trial in a significantly different "position” than that at the original trial, since an appellate court’s legal rulings generally bind a lower court on retrial. See 58 Am.Jur.2d. New Trial § 590 (1989). This reality makes us hesitant to construe rule 24(d) to apply equally to new trials granted upon motion and new trials granted upon appeal.
The structure of the rules also suggest a contrary intent. Rule 24 is entitled, "Motion for new trial” and the first three subsections deal specifically with the guidelines for a motion for a new trial and make no mention of appeal. From this context, then, it appears that rule 24(d)’s preamble, "If a new trial is granted” refers only to situations following a successful motion. Moreover, rule 28, entitled "Disposition after appeal,” neither refers back to 24(d) nor includes similar language.

. See Hans A. Linde, First Things First: Rediscovering the States’ Bills of Rights, 9 U. Balt. L.Rev. 379, 390 (1980) (stating dispositive rules or statutes should be treated before constitutional analysis).

. This language derives from the laws of pre-statehood Utah. See Hopt v. Utah, 120 U.S. 430, 432, 7 S.Ct. 614, 30 L.Ed. 708 (1887) (quoting 1878 Utah Laws, § 317). Whatever the rule's intent, it has been important to the criminal procedure practice of this state for a very long time.

. If the defendant testifies at retrial, however, he may be impeached by the use of statements made at the allocution. While it is unfair to use allocution statements to convict, it would not be unfair to use them to prevent a defendant from successfully committing perjury at a new trial.