Utah Supreme Court turns down widows' appeal

The Utah Supreme Court told two widows Friday that it cannot do anything to overturn a plea bargain for the driver who caused an accident that killed both of their husbands.

Peggy and Patricia Hay argued that their rights as victims were violated because they were not told about the plea deal arranged by former Duchesne County Attorney Karen Allen. Because of this, Peggy and Patricia Hay said they were not able to provide victim-impact statements at the driver's sentencing.

The two women were traveling with their husbands, brothers John Hay, 60, and Day Hay, 61, to Colorado in 2005 when Brandon R. Lane tried to pass a semitrailer on U.S. 40 and crashed into their vehicle head-on, killing the Hay brothers. The two women were seriously injured.

Peggy and Patricia Hay said they had been assured by Allen that Lane was going to plead guilty to one count of negligent homicide and that a second count of negligent homicide would be a plea in abeyance, which means it would be cleared from his record if he complied with certain probation conditions.

However, Allen asked the judge for two pleas in abeyance for Lane, according to the Hay sisters-in-law, and never told them about the details of the plea bargain.

Allen has said she did tell the widows.

The Supreme Court said Friday that since neither the prosecutors nor defense attorneys asked to have the plea bargain overturned, victims cannot do that on their own, because technically they are not a party to a criminal case. Only the state and the defendant are actual parties.

This case also has been dismissed on the district-court level because Lane did do everything the district-court judge required him to do to fulfill the terms of the plea in abeyance that was entered.

"Our hands are tied," the high court said.

However, the justices did say the allegations of fraud that Peggy and Patricia Hay raised against Allen are "serious and troubling" and, if these are true, "warrant investigation in another, more appropriate setting."

Crime victims do have certain rights under the Victims' Rights Amendment to the Utah Constitution and the Rights of Crime Victims Act, according to the unanimous ruling written by Chief Justice Christine Durham.

"We hope and expect that the trial courts will continue to be vigilant in their efforts to recognize crime victims' constitutional rights and ensure those rights are protected and upheld in a timely fashion during the trial process," the ruling states.

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