State v. Sosa-Hurtado
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The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals concluding that there was sufficient evidence to sustain the charged aggravator for Defendant's aggravated murder conviction and that the district properly denied Defendant's motion for a new trial, holding that there was no error in the proceedings below.
On appeal, Defendant argued that there was insufficient to sustain the determination that he placed another person at "great risk of death" when he killed his victim and that the district court abused its discretion in denying his motion for a new trial. The court of appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) in determining whether a murder was committed under circumstances in which the defendant caused a "great risk of death" to another person Utah Code 76-5-202(1)(c) is satisfied if the great risk of death was created with a "brief span of time" of the act causing the murder and the acts together "formed a concatenating series of events"; (2) there was a reasonable basis for the jury to conclude that Defendant caused a great risk of death to another in the circumstances of the murder in this case; and (3) the district court did not err in denying Defendant's motion for a new trial.
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