In-custody Informants in Utah
In State v. Charles (2011) the Utah Court of Appeals ruled that a jury instruction must be given when jailhouse informant witness testimony is going to be used at trial. The instruction directs jurors to assess the jailhouse informant’s testimony with greater scrutiny and details reliability factors that jurors should consider, including: benefits offered or expected in exchange for testimony, criminal history, other cases in which the jailhouse informant testified in exchange for benefits, and whether the jailhouse informant has recanted or changed his/her statements. Effective: 2011.