State v. Norris

2007 UT 6, 152 P.3d 293, 569 Utah Adv. Rep. 32, 2007 Utah LEXIS 8, 2007 WL 121220
Utah Supreme Court·Decided January 19, 2007·No. 20041118·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

WILKINS, Associate Chief Justice:

1 1 Defendant Richard Norris seeks reversal of the court of appeals' ruling that Utah Code section 76-10-1801 is neither unconstitutionally overbroad nor vague.

T2 Norris also asks that we reverse the court of appeals' decision that proper jurisdiction existed in the district court for the filing of charges against him even though the remittitur of his pending appeal was issued prematurely. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

13 Norris ran advertisements in local newspapers for salaried employment positions. The employment consisted of selling a diet product or some type of counseling in conjunction with the sale of the diet product. It appears that several individuals answered the advertisements and were extended job offers. As part of this process, the individuals were given the diet product and asked to sign an agreement. Many believed that they were signing a product inventory, but they were actually agreeing to purchase the product. They later learned that their employment was not salaried as had been advertised. When they tried to return the diet product, Norris would refuse it. He would then sue in small claims court for alleged breach of the contracts.

T4 The procedural history in this case is complex. - West Valley City originally brought four misdemeanor charges of communications fraud against Norris in the Third Cireuit Court. 1 The cireuit court dismissed the charges because the aggregate of the four counts exceeded the court's jurisdictional limit of $1000. West Valley appealed to the court of appeals. While this appeal was pending, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office charged Norris with eleven felony counts of communications fraud in the district court. Norris moved to quash the charges because the West Valley appeal was still on-going. The district court granted the motion, dismissing the charges without prejudice.

1 5 West Valley immediately sought a dismissal of its appeal. Norris opposed the dismissal. However, the court of appeals dismissed the appeal on March 26, 1997. In April, the Salt Lake County District Attorney refiled ten of the felony charges, and Norris moved to dismiss, arguing that the necessary remittitur of the prior appeal had not yet issued. The court granted the motion and dismissed the charges without prejudice a second time.

T 6 The remittitur was prematurely issued on May 13, 1997, and the DA's office again re-filed, this time with twenty felony communications fraud charges. At this same time, Norris asked the court of appeals to reconsider the dismissal, filed a petition for writ of certiorari, and sought an extraordinary writ from this court directing the court of appeals to recall the remittitur as premature since the time for filing an appeal had not yet expired.

T7 We ordered the recall of the remittitur, and Norris sought certiorari review both with us and with the United States Supreme Court. Both the U.S. Supreme Court and our court denied certiorari review. Following the denials, the case was once again remitted to the district court 2 in October 1998. During the time that Norris was seeking certiorari review of the misdemeanor appeal, he also sought a dismissal of the felony charges in the district court. The district court denied the motion and declared that it would entertain no further hearings, motions, or arguments until the misdemeanor appeal had been onee again remitted.

T8 Once the final remittitur finally issued, the state withdrew eight of the twenty felony charges, and defendant was bound over on the remaining charges. The defendant eventually entered conditional guilty pleas. Two *296 weeks later, the defendant moved to withdraw his guilty pleas. The motion was denied, and he was sentenced on two felony counts. Defendant timely appealed, and the court of appeals reversed and remanded the case because of possible confusion in the terms of the plea bargain. On remand, the defendant withdrew his guilty pleas and the case was set for a seven-day trial.

T9 On September 8, 2008, Norris entered conditional guilty pleas to two charges of attempted communications fraud, both class A misdemeanors, and reserved for appeal the constitutionality question and a jurisdictional question.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

110 On certiorari, we review the decision of the court of appeals, not the trial court. 3 Whether a statute is unconstitutionally overbroad or vague is a question of law reviewed for correctness. 4 A statute is presumed constitutional, and we resolve any reasonable doubts in favor of constitutionality. 5 Whether the district court has jurisdiction is a question of law that we review for correctness, giving no deference to the lower court. 6

ANALYSIS

1 11 Norris raises two issues on certiorari. The first is a constitutional overbreadth challenge to the Communications Fraud statute, and the second is a challenge to the district court's jurisdiction to accept and act on the felony charges prior to the proper remittitur of the circuit court appeal. After briefing and oral argument, we requested that the parties also brief whether the Communications Fraud statute was unconstitutional due to vagueness.

T12 We conclude that the statute is neither unconstitutionally overbroad nor vague as applied to Norris. In addition, we conclude that the district court did have jurisdiction. We begin by addressing the over-breadth and vagueness arguments and then the jurisdictional argument.

I. UTAH CODE SECTION 76-10-1801 IS NEITHER OVERBROAD NOR VAGUE

113 Defendant argues that, on its face, Utah Code section 76-10-1801 is both unconstitutionally overbroad and vague. The United States Supreme Court has given clear guidance concerning facial challenges for overbreadth and vagueness:

In a facial challenge to the overbreadth and vagueness of a law, a court's first task is to determine whether the enact, ment reaches a substantial amount of constitutionally protected conduct. If it does not, then the overbreadth challenge must fail. The court should then examine the facial vagueness challenge and, assuming the enactment implicates no constitutionally protected conduct, should uphold the challenge only if the enactment is im-permissibly vague in all of its applications. A plaintiff who engages in some conduct that is clearly proscribed cannot complain of the vagueness of the law as applied to the conduct of others. A court should therefore examine the complainant's conduct before analyzing other hypothetical applications of the law. 7

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State v. Norris, 2007 UT 6, 152 P.3d 293, 569 Utah Adv. Rep. 32, 2007 Utah LEXIS 8, 2007 WL 121220 (Utah 2007).

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