State v. Garza

820 P.2d 937, 173 Utah Adv. Rep. 25, 1991 Utah App. LEXIS 165, 1991 WL 238133

Opinions

JACKSON, Judge:

Defendant April Garza appeals from the trial court’s denial of her motion to suppress certain evidence. We affirm.

Defendant asserts in conclusory terms that both the warrantless search of her vehicle and the warrant search of her residence violated her constitutional rights to be free from illegal searches and seizures.

Defendant has not taken issue with the trial court’s findings of fact and has failed to provide this court with a transcript of the hearing on the motion to suppress, therefore, we must assume, as a matter of law, that the trial court’s decision to deny that motion, was not erroneous. See Jolivet v. Cook, 784 P.2d 1148, 1150 (Utah 1989), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1033, 110 S.Ct. 751, 107 L.Ed.2d 767 (1990) (court assumes regularity of proceedings below where appellant fails to provide adequate record on appeal) (citing State v. Miller, 718 P.2d 403, 405 (Utah 1986); State v. Robbins, 709 P.2d 771, 773 (Utah 1985); State v. Jones, 657 P.2d 1263, 1267 (Utah 1982)). See also State v. Steggell, 660 P.2d 252, 253 (Utah 1983) (court assumes correctness of judgment below if counsel on appeal fails to cite to record); State v. Tucker, 657 P.2d 755, 756 (Utah 1982) (court assumes correctness of findings when defendant’s brief contained nothing more than defendant’s version of facts found by trial court).

While this may seem like a harsh result, we cannot review the proceedings below without an adequate record. Defendant’s failure to provide us with a transcript makes it impossible for us, for example, even to verify that a conditional plea was properly entered, as defendant contends. In State v. Sery, 758 P.2d 935 (Utah App.1988), this court acknowledged that the use of conditional guilty pleas by criminal defendants was a sound and sensible practice, “if agreed to by the prosecution and accepted by the trial court.” Id. at 938 (emphasis added). We review rulings on pre-plea motions to suppress only when such a plea “entered by the defendant with the consent of the prosecution and accepted by the trial judge specifically preserves the suppression issue for appeal and allows withdrawal of the plea if defendant’s arguments in favor of suppression are accepted by the appellate court[.]” Id. In State v. Bobo, 803 P.2d 1268 (Utah App. 1990), this court stated that “[a] defendant seeking appellate review pursuant to a conditional plea bears the burden of demonstrating that the conditional nature of the plea is unambiguously established in the trial court record.” Id. at 1271 (citations omitted).

In this case, because defendant has not supplied us with the requisite record, we do not review the denial of her motion to suppress. Our decision not to consider the merits of defendant’s issues on appeal is further bolstered by the fact that she failed to include a statement of facts in her brief, as required by Rule 24(a)(7) of the Utah Rules of Appellate Procedure. Neither does defendant’s brief contain any citations to the record. In Demetropoulos v. Vreeken, 754 P.2d 960, 965 (Utah App.) (Jackson, J., concurring), cert. denied, 765 P.2d 1278 (Utah 1988), the author of this opinion commented that “[t]he time will most assuredly arrive when a panel of this court will be constrained to disregard intolerable and unacceptable briefs and not reach the merits of the case.” Id. In English v. Standard Optical, 814 P.2d 613, 618-19 (Utah App.1991), we overcame any trepidation that may have been present about declining to reach an issue and made clear that when an appellant’s argument contains no citations to the record and no legal authority, and as such does not comply with briefing rules, we would decline to reach those issues.¹

The trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion to suppress is affirmed.

RUSSON, J., concurs.

1 . See also Utah R.App.P. 24(a)(9) ("The argument shall contain the contentions and reasons of the appellant with respect to the issues presented, with citations to the authorities, statutes, and parts of the record relied on.”); State v. Day, 815 P.2d 1345, 1352 (Utah App.1991); Christensen v. Munns, 812 P.2d 69, 72-73 (Utah App.1991); Koulis v. Standard Oil Co. of Cal., 746 P.2d 1182, 1184-85 (Utah App.1987).