User:Swede johnson01/Judge Paul G. Maughan

Judge Paul G. Maughan of the District Court for the Third Judicial District serves Salt Lake, Summit, and Tooele Counties.

Early Life & Education

Judge Maughan was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, and came to Utah to obtain his undergraduate degree in sociology at Brigham Young University. In 1974 he received his J.D. (Juris Doctor) law degree from the University of Utah.

Legal Career

Judge Maughan served a thirteen-year stint as Deputy District Attorney for Salt Lake County where he was assigned to the civil division. There, Judge Maughan concentrated in the areas of business regulation, environmental law and real estate. Prior to his District Attorney experience, Judge Maughan was in private practice at the Salt Lake City law firm of Bradley, Arrowsmith & Jackson and served in the Salt Lake City Attorney’s Office for approximately ten years. Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Maughan served on the Courts and Judges Committee and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the Utah State Bar, and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Bar’s Litigation Section.

Judicial Career

Judge Maughan was appointed to the bench in December 1998 by then Governor Michael Leavitt. Judge Maughan handles almost exclusively a civil docket, with roughly a 15% criminal docket at the Scott M. Matheson Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City. Judge Maughan is a member and past chair of the Board of District Court Judges, and was the Associate Presiding Judge of the Third District Court from 2007-2010. He serves on the Utah Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on the Code of Professional Responsibility, the State of Utah Sentencing Commission, and is a member of the A. Sherman Christensen Inn of Court. Judge Maughan was successfully retained in office by a vote of the public in his 2008 retention election. Prior to his retention election, Judge Maughan was certified by the Utah Judicial Council as having satisfactorily passed his judicial performance evaluation by attorneys, jurors and others. Results of his judicial performance evaluation.

Notable Cases and Rulings

State of Utah v. Curtis Allgier, Case no. 077904711 Curtis Allgier was charged with capital murder of 60-year-old Corrections Officer Stephen Anderson. Anderson was killed with his own gun on June 25, 2007, while escorting Allgier to a visit to a Salt Lake City medical clinic. The charge of capital murder carries the potential for the death penalty. Allgier is also charged with seven other felonies in relation to this crime. From 2007 to present Allgier has requested, and received numerous changes to his defense team, his most recent request has been denied. A 3rd District Court judge has found no basis to appoint a new defense team for prison inmate Curtis Allgier, accused of killing a Corrections officer four years ago. In a 10-page decision filed Thursday, Judge Paul Maughan denied a defense request to withdraw from the case, saying he found no evidence that Allgier’s attorney-client relationship had been irreparably harmed. The controversy arose following a November story in The Salt Lake Tribune quoting a Salt Lake County jail officer who said Allgier’s attorneys had gone behind his back to request extra security during jail visits because Allgier had threatened their lives. Cook would not disclose to The Tribune whether Allgier’s current legal team made the request, or if it came from one of Allgier’s former attorneys.

Colosimo v. Roman Catholic Bishop of Salt Lake City, 156 P.2d 806 (Utah 2007) Ralph Louis Colosimo and Charles Matthew Colosimo filed suit against Judge Memorial Catholic High School; the Salt Lake Diocese, the Archdiocese of San Francisco; and individual defendant James F. Rapp, a former teacher at Judge. The Colosimos sought damages arising from their alleged sexual abuse by Rapp more than three decades ago. Judge Maughan entered default judgment against Rapp, but dismissed the claims against the other defendants on statute of limitations grounds. The Colosimos appealed, arguing that the discovery rule tolled the running of the statute until they became aware of their claims against the institutional defendants. The Utah Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal. The case was subsequently appealed to the Utah Supreme Court which affirmed the Court of Appeals decision upholding Judge Maughan’s dismissal.

State v. William Joseph Ireland (2006) Case No. 031908349 On Certiorari to the Utah Supreme Court, Justice Jill Parrish authored the court’s opinion: Defendant William Joseph Ireland sought review of his conviction for aggravated robbery. Ireland argues that the concealed gesture he used when robbing a jewelry store did not justify elevating the charge against him from simple robbery to aggravated robbery. The court of appeals upheld Ireland’s conviction, and we granted certiorari to determine whether a concealed gesture of a hand in a pocket is sufficient to meet the criteria for aggravated robbery under Utah Code section 76-6-302. Finding that Ireland’s use of a concealed gesture falls within the express terms of the aggravated robbery statute, we affirm.