Matter of Larsen
Utah Supreme Court
2016 UT 26 (2016)
- Written by Rose VanHofwegen, JD
Facts
Ten days before trial of a felony robbery that turned on eyewitness testimony, Utah prosecutor Larsen showed two eyewitnesses a photograph of the accused. Larsen did not tell the defense, who arguably could have used it to undermine the accuracy of the eyewitnesses’ in-court identifications of the defendant. When one eyewitness denied having seen a photo of the defendant before trial, Larsen remained silent. However, when the second eyewitness testified that she had been shown a photo, Larsen acknowledged it. The disciplinary committee brought charges against Larsen for violating Utah’s ethical rule 3.8. Larsen argued that his acknowledgment was timely under the ethical rules because it satisfied his Brady obligation.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Lee, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 812,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
