State v. Smith
Annotate this CaseAppellant pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 1988. Appellant later filed a motion to withdraw his plea. The district court denied the motion on the merits. The Supreme Court affirmed. In 2014, Appellant filed a motion to reinstate his right to appeal under Utah R. App. P. 4(f), claiming that his counsel had rendered ineffective assistance in advising him to accept the plea. The district court concluded that the allegations did not satisfy the criteria set forth by rule 4(f). Appellant’s appeal was transferred to the court of appeals under Utah R. App. P. 42(a). Appellant argued that the appeal was not subject to transfer. The Supreme Court issued an order temporarily recalling the transfer of this appeal for the purpose of determining whether it was within the Court’s exclusive jurisdiction. The Supreme Court transferred this appeal back to the court of appeals, concluding that this appeal was not within the Court’s exclusive appellate jurisdiction because the decision from which Appellant’s appeal was brought only denied a postjudgment request to reinstate the right to appeal, and Appellant’s appeal of that decision did not constitute a direct challenge to his conviction.
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