State v. James

HOWE, Associate Chief Justice:

On petition of defendant Steven Ray James, which he filed pursuant to Utah Code Ann. § 77-35-26(2)(c) (1982, Supp. 1988), we granted this interlocutory appeal from certain pretrial orders in the instant case in which defendant is charged with first degree murder. He claims two errors: (1) that the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for a change of venue; and (2) that his right to a fair trial will be jeopardized by the use of a prior conviction as an aggravating circumstance to be proved in the guilt phase of his trial.

On August 26, 1986,…