State of Utah, and v. Floyd Eugene Maestas, and

Summary

The court rejected all claims challenging Maestas's convictions and death sentence, including challenges to jury selection, jury communications, expert testimony, prosecutorial comments, and the sufficiency of the evidence. It held that the only erroneous for-cause ruling did not prejudice Maestas because he did not identify a biased or incompetent juror who ultimately served, and that the remaining alleged errors were either not errors, harmless, or unsupported. The court also upheld the admission of Y-STR DNA, fingerprint, and medical-examiner testimony and concluded that the penalty-phase jury was adequately informed about life without parole.