The Utah Supreme Court heard two cases at the U on Monday to give law students a chance to watch the proceedings.
Nancy Volmer, spokesperson for Utah State Courts, said the annual event helps “busy students” who might not be able to go to the Matheson Courthouse, where the hearings usually take place.
The court convened in the S.J. Quinney College of Law Moot Courtroom. The first case dealt with whether or not it is constitutional for Salt Lake City to condemn property owned by Evans Development and then trade that lot for another piece of property that the city will dedicate to public use.
State v. Robertson, the second case, was focused more on morality. The Internet Crimes Against Children task force found multiple images and videos containing child pornography on Chris Robertson’s personal computer. Robertson was sentenced in federal court to two days of incarceration in addition to the time he had already served and was released on probation.
The state then pursued their own charges under Utah state code, and Robertson was convicted of twenty counts of possession of child pornography and sentenced to serve consecutive one-to-fifteen year terms in prison. Robertson is challenging whether he can be penalized for the same offense in two jurisdictions — federal and state.
This is the first year the Utah Supreme Court held proceedings in the College of Law’s new building. Chief Justice Matthew Durrant hopes students learned from the judges and attorneys presiding over the cases.
“Students read about cases in books and learn about legal theory and principles,” he said. “It is useful for them to see the judicial system in action. This is where they can see very skilled lawyers applying what they’ve learned.”
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