Sexual abuse decision upheld

The Utah Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a man who repeatedly sexually abused a 10-year-old child when the man was 17, despite his arguments that he should have been tried in juvenile court.

Paul Ray Gulbransen, a Cache County resident who was 17 at the time of the crime, was convicted in May 2001 of four counts of first-degree felony child sodomy.

In July of that year, the Utah Court of Appeals ruled on a case that for a short time changed the criteria for moving a juvenile into adult court. However, the Utah Legislature reversed the appellate court changes by amending state law in February 2002.

Due to the appellate court ruling, a judge sent Gulbransen's conviction back to juvenile court. But after the law was changed, prosecutors got the case returned to adult court once again and Gulbransen was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison.

Gulbransen argued he should not have been sentenced because when his case was moved from district court to juvenile court, that essentially constituted a dismissal and he deserves a new trial.

But the Supreme Court disagreed in a decision released Friday. "We hold that the district court never lost jurisdiction and, as a consequence, had authority to sentence Gulbransen 16 months after his conviction," the ruling said.

Gulbransen also challenged the use of two photos of injuries on the victim's body at his trial, claiming that the pictures were "unnecessarily graphic."

The high court disagreed with that as well, stating that the photos were relevant to the case and did not arouse hostility in the jury against Gulbransen.

Assistant Attorney General Laura Dupaix praised the high court for the ruling on Gulbransen's case. "He clearly belonged in district court. The Supreme Court was right in how it analyzed the case."

Dupaix said a juvenile court bound Gulbransen over for trial in adult court twice under two different statutes — and he did not challenge it either time.

"This was one of those cases where he was really hoping to get a second bite of the apple based on a hyper-technicality," Dupaix said. "The reality is everyone agreed he belonged in district court. It was just a question of how he got there."

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E-mail: lindat@desnews.com