State of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee v. Cody Lynn Nielsen, Defendant and Appellant

Summary

The court affirmed Nielsen's aggravated-murder and desecration-of-a-body convictions and his life-without-parole sentence, but vacated the kidnapping and aggravated-kidnapping convictions because those offenses merged. It rejected Nielsen's venue, sufficiency, bindover, and ineffective-assistance claims, concluding that he failed to show prejudice, the trial court acted within its discretion, and the evidence supported both the kidnapping verdict and bindover. The court also clarified that marshaling is part of an appellant's burden of persuasion rather than an automatic procedural default.