Tooele Highway Drug Stops
Tooele County, Utah is a large, rural county 30 minutes west of Salt Lake City, with a couple small towns (Grantsville, Tooele), some mountains, salt flats, and one large, busy, east-west Highway (I-80).
Like many places around the state and country, the local law enforcement folks in Tooele have formed a "Multi-Agency Drug Enforcement Task Force," with the expressed purpose of "investigating and prosecuting the illegal importation, manufacture, use, possession, dispensation, prescription, delivery...." you get the point.
Summit County Marijuana Arrests
So after the traveler gets caught with some weed, they often get arrested and carted off to Summit County Jail, leaving their car along the highway for the tow-truck guys to come get. One tow-truck driver told a client of mine that he had personally hauled 7 cars off the highway that evening, all of which were the cars of arrested drivers.
Richfield Marijuana Arrests: The most exciting part of driving I-70
The drive along Interstate 70, in central Utah, is remarkable for its unremarkableness. Just to the north, there are strikingly beautiful salt flats and the abrupt, snow-capped peaks of the Wasatch front. Just to the south are the red-rock deserts and world-famous national parks: Zion, Arches, Canyonlands. But I-70 threads the needle, and doesn't pass a single interesting site in a state full of them. It starts with bleak, rolling pinon hills at the I-15 junction, and ends with bleak, rolling clay hills at the Colorado border.
Defense Attorneys and "Direct Mailing" in Utah
Is It Legal and Ethical for Defense Attorneys to Send Direct Mail to People Charged with a Crime?
In a word, Yes.
As you probably know, it is legal for businesses to send you advertisements you didn't ask for. You probably get some version of them every week: from car dealerships, insurance agents, supermarkets. Attorney's however, are governed by special rules of ethics, which are written and published by the Supreme Court of the state. If an attorney violates those rules, he or she can get in big trouble.
Drug Dogs and Police Searches in Utah
Can Police Have a Dog Sniff My Car Without My Permission?
Unfortunately, yes they can. The Supreme Court has held that a drug dog "sniff" is not a search, basically because they're not invading your privacy (unless the dog "alerts" and they do a search). However, there are some important limitations. You can't be detained against your will on the side of the road for a drug dog to sniff your car. It has to be done while you're being held for another legal reason. So if you're pulled over speeding, and one cop is getting your license and registration, and typing it into the computer, and getting a background check, and another cop is walking around your car with Ajax the drug dog at the same time, that's probably legal.
Carbon County Utah Marijuana Charges
Carbon County, Utah has no freeways, but it does have beautiful, windy Highway 6, the main route from Salt Lake City and points west to Denver and points east. Consequently, it gets a lot of traffic for a small, rural, county in the Utah desert.
Park City "Minor in Possession" Enforcement
There's an old saying, "You go to war with the army you have." It's like another way of saying, when you have to do something, you do the best with what you've got. Well, what the Park City Police Department has to do is fight crime. And what they've got is a bunch of 18-year-olds drinking beer, so that's what they fight against. (You go to war against the army you have, too, I suppose.)
Your California Medical Marijuana Card in Utah
Probably once a week, I get asked if a California Medical Marijuana Card makes any difference in Utah. Up until last year, I had to say no. Fortunately, Utah's new Medical Cannabis Act does contain some reciprocity for med cards from out of state, but there are some important caveats to keep in mind:
Utah Eases Expungement Eligibility, Especially for Prior Drug Convictions!
Over the last couple years, Utah has made some major changes in it's expungement eligibility guidelines--almost all of them for the good. The most important change has made it easier for people with several drug possession offenses to get them expunged, but the changes also make it easier for people with other sorts of convictions. Specifically, they've changed the way that convictions are counted. That's important, because you can be ineligible to expunge any conviction if you have too many total convictions on your record. Here are the most important changes:
Utah's "Clean Slate" Law, and Automatic Expungements
In 2019, Utah became the second state in the country to pass an "automatic" expungement law. It went into effect in 2020, but as of the date of this post (in Summer of 2021) no cases have been automatically expunged yet. Recently, I volunteered as an "expert expungement attorney" for a day of trying to help the government get the law up-and-running. Here's what I learned:
Parolees Become Eligible for 402 Reductions in Utah
There's been a theme lately of the Utah legislature making improvements to the laws on expungements and record reductions.
Utah Legalizes Medical Marijuana! Kinda! Sort Of!
UPDATE: the Utah Legislature passed, and the governor signed, a “compromise bill” that overwrites most of Proposition 2. More information and a new post will be forthcoming.