It has been an incredibly busy—and exciting—few weeks for us. We have had several interesting developments in cases we are working on, that we are excited to share with you.
You may remember the blog post we did on our client, Tamsen Reid. Tamsen was on a road trip with her friends when then-officer, Scott Womack, pulled them over and strip searched Tamsen under the false pretense that someone with the same name had a warrant out for her arrest. The officer threatened that if she didn’t cooperate, she would be arrested. (See Why You Should Never Agree to a Police Search, even if you have nothing to hide).
Since this case went public, we have received many calls from other women who claimed the same thing happened to them. A federal investigation was initiated to look into these events. After this investigation, Womack was charged with four counts of official misconduct, three counts of misdemeanor attempted custodial sexual misconduct, and one count of felony custodial sexual misconduct. This week we filed another civil lawsuit on behalf of one of these other women who was subjected to Scott Womack’s sexual misconduct under the color of authority.
Also, back in 2006, we started working on a case involving 21-year-old Jessica Nelson, who was driving a family friend home late at night two weeks before Christmas. Tragically, she and her passenger were killed instantly because an Ogden police officer chased a fleeing car right into downtown Ogden, reaching speeds of over 80 miles per hour The car ran a red light and T-boned Jessica’s car. She left behind a grieving family, including a young daughter.
When we brought this case to trial, we filed several motions in limine, seeking an Order from the judge forbidding any mention of certain irrelevant or prejudicial subjects during the course of a trial. Since Jessica was purely an “innocent bystander” who was simply driving through a green light when she was killed, we requested, and the Court agreed, that any mention Jessica’s past or the past history of her passenger should be prohibited. But during the trial, Ogden’s attorney continually violated the Court’s order, obviously seeking to bludgeon Jessica Nelson’s character and make her look unsympathetic to the jury. That attorney proceeded to insinuate that the reason Jessica and her friend were out driving late at night was because she was a prostitute and the friend was her pimp, which was not only outrageous, but completely untrue. Of course, we objected repeatedly to this entire line of questioning, but the damage had already been done. The jury sided with the defense.
We did not give up. We appealed and argued our petition before the Utah Supreme Court. The justices were outraged at the attorney’s conduct and her direct violation of a court order.
Last Friday, we received the Utah Supreme Court’s decision with the good news that we won the appeal. The jury’s verdict was reversed, and the case was remanded back to the trial court for a new trial.
SykesInjuryLaw.com
You may remember the blog post we did on our client, Tamsen Reid. Tamsen was on a road trip with her friends when then-officer, Scott Womack, pulled them over and strip searched Tamsen under the false pretense that someone with the same name had a warrant out for her arrest. The officer threatened that if she didn’t cooperate, she would be arrested. (See Why You Should Never Agree to a Police Search, even if you have nothing to hide).
Since this case went public, we have received many calls from other women who claimed the same thing happened to them. A federal investigation was initiated to look into these events. After this investigation, Womack was charged with four counts of official misconduct, three counts of misdemeanor attempted custodial sexual misconduct, and one count of felony custodial sexual misconduct. This week we filed another civil lawsuit on behalf of one of these other women who was subjected to Scott Womack’s sexual misconduct under the color of authority.
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| Former Deputy Scott Womack |
When we brought this case to trial, we filed several motions in limine, seeking an Order from the judge forbidding any mention of certain irrelevant or prejudicial subjects during the course of a trial. Since Jessica was purely an “innocent bystander” who was simply driving through a green light when she was killed, we requested, and the Court agreed, that any mention Jessica’s past or the past history of her passenger should be prohibited. But during the trial, Ogden’s attorney continually violated the Court’s order, obviously seeking to bludgeon Jessica Nelson’s character and make her look unsympathetic to the jury. That attorney proceeded to insinuate that the reason Jessica and her friend were out driving late at night was because she was a prostitute and the friend was her pimp, which was not only outrageous, but completely untrue. Of course, we objected repeatedly to this entire line of questioning, but the damage had already been done. The jury sided with the defense.
We did not give up. We appealed and argued our petition before the Utah Supreme Court. The justices were outraged at the attorney’s conduct and her direct violation of a court order.
Last Friday, we received the Utah Supreme Court’s decision with the good news that we won the appeal. The jury’s verdict was reversed, and the case was remanded back to the trial court for a new trial.
SykesInjuryLaw.com
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