Court Opinion

ID: 9549786
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:24:42.26583+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:20:54.660059
License: Public Domain

HOWE, Justice,
concurring:
I concur. I write only to explain that there was no basis in the law to give an instruction on manslaughter. Defendant contended that he acted recklessly, which if found to be true, would ordinarily support only a conviction of manslaughter. However, because his reckless conduct occurred while he was assaulting a peace officer or while he was interfering with the officer while making a lawful arrest, reckless conduct is, under those circumstances, elevated from manslaughter to murder. Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-203(l)(e). He was given such an instruction on “peace officer” murder. Thus defendant received all he was entitled to in the jury instructions. The jury could have found his conduct reckless, but under the peculiar circumstances of this case, that would have made him guilty of murder, not manslaughter.