Court Opinion

ID: 9564758
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:06:28.121927+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:39.132652
License: Public Domain

RUSSON, Justice,

concurring in the result:

I concur in the result of the majority opinion but disagree with some of the reasoning and overly broad language set forth therein. I base my concurrence upon the reasoning set forth in the opinion of the court of appeals in this case. That reasoning was sue-einctly set forth in its conclusion where it stated:
While the statute allows persons other than public prosecutors to bring criminal actions in the name of the state, the concept of “primary” responsibility required by our state’s constitution does not mean “exclusive” responsibility. Accordingly, city attorneys can have some responsibility for the prosecution of crimes in the name of the state as long as public prosecutors continue to have the “primary” responsibility.
Public prosecutors—the attorney general and county and district attorneys—have the primary responsibility over the system as a whole for prosecuting criminal actions in the name of the state. This is true both quantitatively, since public prosecutors have the responsibility to prosecute all cases in the name of the state compared to city attorneys who have no compulsory duty to prosecute any actions in the name of the state, and qualitatively, since city attorneys are only authorized to prosecute misdemeanors. The first facet of the constitutional mandate, that of statewide “primary responsibility,” is thus fulfilled by public prosecutors.
City attorneys are, however, authorized to prosecute certain cases in the name of the state, relieving the duty, but not the authority, of the county and district attorneys and the attorney general to conduct the prosecution. Even so, prosecutions by city attorneys are subject to the common law authority of the attorney general to intervene in the interest of the public. In this way, every prosecution in the name of the state is subject to the authority of a public prosecutor, who is elected and thereby accountable to the people, fulfilling the second facet of “primary responsibility” required by our constitution.
State v. Robertson, 886 P.2d 85, 91-92 (Ct. App.1994), cert. granted, 899 P.2d 1231 (Utah 1995).
*895Therefore, I would affirm the court of appeals for the reasons set forth above without the expansive language used by the majority opinion.