UTAH
Utah Supreme Court reinstates teen’s conviction
Jan 10, 2019, 7:34 PM | Updated: Jan 11, 2019, 5:11 pm
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah Supreme Court has reinstated the armed robbery conviction of an Ogden 16-year-old who was tried as an adult and sent to prison.
The conviction had been thrown out by the Utah Court of Appeals after Cooper Van Huizen, now 21, served his sentence.
The appeals court overturned the conviction because the juvenile court judge who ordered Van Huizen to stand trial as an adult had not disclosed that her husband was chief criminal prosecutor in the Weber County attorney’s office.
Utah’s highest court reversed that decision Monday, allowing an original ruling in the case to stand.
The ruling puts the conviction back on Van Huizen’s record.
Efforts to contact Van Huizen’s appeal attorney, Elizabeth Hunt, were not immediately successful Wednesday.
Court records say Van Huizen and four others robbed a Roy man at gunpoint in 2014.
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