Unconnected Criminal Charges Must Be Severed

State of Utah v. Hildreth, 2010 UT App. 209, (Utah Court of Appeals July 29, 2010).

Hildreth convicted of two counts of forcible sexual abuse appeals based on the denial of his motion for severance of the charges. 

Charges may be charged together if the charges are based on the same conduct or are otherwise connected together in their commission, are part of a common scheme or plan, or if the court found that neither the state nor the defendant are prejudiced by joinder of the charges.  Hildreth argues that the charges were sufficiently unrelated and warranted severance.  The Court agreed and further stated that Hildreth’s charges were unrelated to one another and that the alleged actions did not take place under sufficiently similar circumstances.  As such, the convictions were overturned and the case was Reversed and Remanded for separate trials on the charges.

Additionally, the Court found that testimony as to the other charges should be excluded as improper character evidence because the likelihood of prejudice outweighs the probative value.

Full Decision available at  http://www.utcourts.gov/opinions/appopin/hildreth072910.pdf