Month: February 2022

Washington Terrace, Utah—The Weber County Judicial Nominating Commission has announced the appointment of Judge Paul H. Olds to fill the justice court judge position that  serves Washington Terrace, Utah. The position will replace Judge Patrick Lambert who retired in July of 2021.

Judge Olds holds two Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Utah in Political Science and Philosophy. In December of 1993, he graduated from the University of Nebraska  College of Law. He has practiced law in Northern Utah for the past 27 years. For nine of those  years, Judge Olds served as an Assistant City Attorney for the cities of Ogden and Riverdale. In addition to that service, he served as the public defender for the cities of Clearfield and Harrisville.  As private defense counsel, he has handled matters in most of the justice and district courts in Northern Utah. For ten years Judge Olds taught criminal and business law courses at Weber State University.

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Farr West, Utah—The Weber County Judicial Nominating Commission has announced the appointment of Judge Paul H. Olds to fill the justice court judge position that serves Farr West, Utah. The position will replace Judge Patrick Lambert who retired in July of 2021.

Judge Olds holds two Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Utah in Political Science and Philosophy. In December of 1993, he graduated from the University of Nebraska  College of Law. He has practiced law in Northern Utah for the past 27 years. For nine of those years, Judge Olds served as an Assistant City Attorney for the cities of Ogden and Riverdale. In addition to that service, he served as the public defender for the cities of Clearfield and Harrisville.  As private defense counsel, he has handled matters in most of the justice and district courts in Northern Utah. For ten years, Judge Olds taught criminal and business law courses at Weber State University.

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Utah County, Utah—The Utah County Judicial Nominating Commission has announced the  appointment of Judge Kelton Shawn Patten to fill the justice court judge position that serves Utah County, Utah. The position will replace Judge Scott Cullimore who retired in April, 2021.

Prior to becoming a judge, Judge Patten served as the public defender in the Utah Fourth District Court, American Fork Department, the Highland/Alpine Justice Court, and the Santaquin/Goshen Justice Court. Judge Patten received his J.D. from the University of Nevada, Boyd School of Law. He also received both an M.B.A. and a Bachelor’s degree in engineering/technology from Brigham Young University.

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Parowan, Utah—The Iron County Judicial Nominating Commission has announced the appointment of Judge Matthew Carling to fill the justice court judge position that serves Parowan,  Utah. The position will replace Judge Brent Dunlap who resigned his position.

Matthew Carling earned his BA in Spanish from BYU, and an MBA and JD from Creighton University. Judge Carling has practiced law in Utah since 1999. He has been a prosecutor,  defense attorney and a judge pro tempore. Judge Carling has appeared in the Utah Appeals Court  and Utah Supreme Court. He is admitted to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.

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Daggett County, Utah—The Daggett County Judicial Nominating Commission has announced the appointment of Judge Jeri Allphin to fill the justice court judge position that serves Daggett County,  Utah. The position will replace Judge Charlene Hartmann who retired in December of 2021.

Jeri L Allphin joined the Utah State Bar Association in 1998. After serving as a law clerk in the Fourth District Court in Provo, she joined the law firm of Esplin and Weight as a trial attorney. In 2003, she joined Utah Valley University as the Sr. Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving. After leaving UVU in 2016, she joined the firm of Seiler, Anderson, Fife and Marshall in Provo, Utah. She became a licensed Realtor in 2014 with the brokerage of Value 1st Realty. Judge Allphin received a bachelor degree in Business Management from Utah Valley University and her law degree from J Reuben Clark Law School.

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Stockton, Utah—The deadline for applications for a justice court judge position in Stockton has been extended. The position will replace Judge Ron E. Powell who will retire in March.

To be considered for a justice court judgeship in Tooele County, candidates must be at least 25 years of age, a citizen of the United States, a Utah resident for at least three years, and have earned a high school diploma or GED. In addition, candidates must be a resident of Tooele County or an adjacent county for at least six months immediately preceding appointment.

Information on judicial retention and performance evaluation is posted on the Utah State Court’s website at legacy.utcourts.gov under employment opportunities. An application for judicial office form must be completed and is available on the court’s website (legacy.utcourts.gov/admin/jobs).  The salary range for the position is $6,145 to $11,060 per year and does not include benefits.  For additional information, contact Laura Mott at (435) 882-3877.

The deadline for applications is Monday, March 7, 2022 at 5 p.m. and should be sent to the attention of Amy Hernandez, Administrative Office of the Courts, P.O. Box 140241, Salt Lake  City, UT, 84114-0241. For an application or information, email amymh@utcourts.gov.

Utah law requires the Judicial Nominating Commission to submit three to five nominees to the  mayor of Stockton, Nando Meli Jr., within 45 days of its first meeting. Mayor Meli will then have 30 days in which to make a selection. His selection must then be ratified by the Stockton Town Council and certified by the Utah Judicial Council.

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North Ogden, UT—The Weber County Nominating Commission has selected four nominees for a judicial vacancy that will serve North Ogden, Utah. The position will replace Judge Patrick Lambert who retired in July of 2021.

Following are the nominees followed by place of employment and residence:

• Bryce Froerer, J.D., attorney at law, resident of Huntsville,

• Darrin Johns, J.D., attorney at law, resident of North Ogden,

• Judge Michael Junk, J.D., Justice Court Judge of the Ogden City Justice Court, resident of Ogden, and

• Judge Bryan Memmott, J.D., Justice Court Judge of the Plain City Justice  Court, the Woods Cross Justice Court, the South Ogden Justice Court, and the South Weber Justice Court, resident of Fruit Heights.

A comment period will be held through February 27, 2022. A final candidate will then be selected by the North Ogden Mayor, Neal Berube, within 30 days. The selection must then be  certified by the Utah Judicial Council. To submit written comments about the candidates, please contact Amy Hernandez at amymh@utcourts.gov.

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Salt Lake City, UT –In 2019, Utah lawmakers unanimously passed Utah’s Clean Slate law, which automatically clears old and minor criminal records of individuals who have remained crime free for a set period of time. On February 10, 2022, Utah officially begins automatic expungement and becomes the second state in the country to implement a Clean Slate law.

“We believe in the rule of law and that people should be held accountable when a law is broken. But we also believe in second chances,” said Governor Spencer Cox. “Utah’s Clean Slate law is a common-sense policy that will help people find housing, get jobs and contribute back to their communities after paying their debt to society.”

Having a criminal record is more common than many people realize. More than 1 in 4 Utahns have some type of record and those records can create barriers to housing and jobs. Nearly 500,000 Utahns have been identified for automatic clearance so far.

“For the Courts, this law is about access to justice, an issue we care deeply about,” said Ron Gordon, State Court Administrator. “We know that our legal systems have barriers and that many of our neediest Utahns require a lawyer to help them and cannot afford one. Criminal record expungement is one of these areas. Due to cost, the complicated process, lack of knowledge, and lack of legal representation, less than 10% of people eligible to clear their records have made it through the process. Utah’s Clean Slate law changes this landscape completely.”

Utah’s Clean Slate law provides automatic record expungement for cases dismissed with prejudice and certain qualifying misdemeanor conviction records.

• Individuals must remain conviction-free for 5-7 years (depending on the level of the offense) in order to qualify.
• Covered offenses include misdemeanor A drug possession, most misdemeanor B and C level offenses, and all infractions.
• Utah’s Clean Slate law will not clear any felony records, domestic violence related offenses, sex offenses, simple assault, or DUI offenses.
• Utah’s Clean Slate law has numerical limits, which means that some individuals will have too many total records to qualify for any automatic clearance.

The Utah Courts will first start to clear records of cases that have been dismissed or resulted in an acquittal. There are 218,000 records with over 800,000 combined cases that fall into these categories and will be automatically expunged. These cases will not all be expunged at once. This will happen in batches over the coming months.

“Clean Slate is a key step to rebuild our workforce and drive our economic recovery forward,” said Derek Miller, President & CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance. “The smart policy of automating the expungement process will give thousands of deserving Utahns the second chances they deserve, while at the same time making our state a better place to live and work. It represents a common-sense solution for closing the justice and opportunity gaps – one that will further solidify our status as the best state for business.”

Code for America played a vital role in the effort to automate Utah’s Clean Slate law, as part of its national effort to make automatic record clearance the standard across the country. Code for America, in partnership with the Utah Administrative Office of the Courts, created an algorithm to automatically identify all the conviction cases that were immediately eligible to be cleared and receive record clearance relief once the law took effect. The Utah Courts are now adopting Code for America’s code and technical process to identify eligible conviction records on their own and continually clear records as the meet eligibility requirements.

“The fundamental shift – moving from a petition-based process to an automatic process – will help Utah achieve record clearance equitably, expeditiously, and at scale,” said Meilani Santillan, Code for America’s Criminal Justice Program Director. “We’re proud that because of our work, almost 500,000 people will receive conviction relief starting this month. A conviction should not be a life sentence to poverty, and this achievement will help tens of thousands of people in Utah have access to jobs, housing and other opportunities that they otherwise might be denied.”

Clean Slate Utah is a 501(c)(3) formed to help raise awareness of Utah’s Clean Slate law and educate the public about automatic record clearance. Its team can help by:

• Answering general questions about both petition-based and automatic expungement
• Connecting self-represented people to free legal resources
• Covering the cost of non-waivable BCI fees for those who qualify
• Determining if people qualify for free legal support through partnership with Rasa

For more information about Clean Slate Utah, visit www.cleanslateutah.org or https://vimeo.com/675665366.

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Wellsville, UT—The Cache County Nominating Commission has selected four nominees for a  judicial vacancy that will serve Wellsville, Utah. The position will replace Judge Terry Moore who resigned his position in May of 2021.

Following are the nominees followed by place of employment and residence:

• Judge Trevor Cook, J.D., Justice Court Judge of Rich County Justice Court, resident of Nibley,

• Judge Matthew Funk, Justice Court Judge of the Richmond City Justice Court and the Providence City Justice Court, resident of Richmond,

• Judge Matthew Lorz, J.D., Justice Court Judge of the North Logan and Hyde Park Justice Court, resident of North Logan, and

• Judge Kevin Nelson, Justice Court Judge of the Mantua Justice Court, resident of Mantua.

A comment period will be held through February 14, 2022. A final candidate will then be selected by the Wellsville Mayor, Thomas Bailey, within 30 days. The selection must then be certified by the Utah Judicial Council. To submit written comments about the candidates, please contact Amy  Hernandez at amymh@utcourts.gov.

Pleasant View, UT—The Weber County Nominating Commission has selected four nominees for a judicial vacancy that will serve Pleasant View, Utah. The position will replace Judge Patrick Lambert who retired in July of 2021.

Following are the nominees followed by place of employment and residence:

• Michelle Jeffs, J.D., attorney at law, resident of Pleasant View,

• Darrin Johns, J.D., attorney at law, resident of North Ogden,

• Judge Bryan Memmott, J.D., Justice Court Judge of the Plain City Justice Court, the Woods Cross Justice Court, the South Ogden Justice Court, and the South Weber Justice Court, resident of Fruit Heights, and

• Judge Paul Olds, J.D., Justice Court Judge of the Riverdale City Justice Court, the Farr West Justice Court, and the Washington Terrace Justice Court, resident of Pleasant View.

A comment period will be held through February 14, 2022. A final candidate will then be selected by the Pleasant View Mayor, Leonard Call, within 30 days. The selection must then be  certified by the Utah Judicial Council. To submit written comments about the candidates, please  contact Amy Hernandez at amymh@utcourts.gov.

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