State v. Kazda

CROCKETT, Justice:

Dennis G. Kazda seeks reversal of his jury conviction of theft, a third-degree felony,1 for removing building materials from a house under construction in Sandy City, Salt Lake County. The sole assignment of error is that the prosecutor preju-dicially commented in his closing argument concerning the defendant’s failure to testify at trial.

The defendant was found late at night in the construction site where building materials were stolen. At trial, he did not testify in his own defense; nor produce any witnesses to explain his presence in the area; nor did he present any…