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Utah Code § 78B-9-109

Appointment of pro bono counsel or counsel from Indigent Appellate Defense Division

Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case 2023 UT App 93 - Carrell v. State (2023)

Most recently applied in 2025 UT App 78 - Sanchez v. State (May 2025)

Amended by Chapter 295, 2022 General Session; End date 7/1/2026

How often courts cite this section

2023202510
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1)

(a) If any portion of the petition is not summarily dismissed, the court may, upon the request of an indigent petitioner, appoint counsel on a pro bono basis or from the Indigent Appellate Defense Division, created in Section 78B-22-902, to represent the petitioner in the postconviction court or on postconviction appeal.

(b) Counsel who represented the petitioner at trial or on the direct appeal may not be appointed to represent the petitioner under this section.

(2) In determining whether to appoint counsel, the court may consider:

(a) whether the petitioner is incarcerated;

(b) the likelihood that an evidentiary hearing will be necessary;

(c) the likelihood that an investigation will be necessary;

(d) the complexity of the factual and legal issues; and

(e) any other factor relevant to the particular case.

(3) An allegation that counsel appointed under this section was ineffective cannot be the basis for relief in any subsequent postconviction petition.

Official source: Utah State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Utah statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.