Utah Code » Title 10, Chapter 3 — Municipal Government; part 10-3-9 — Appointed Officials and Their Duties
Utah Code

Utah Code § 10-3-928 (2026)

Attorney duties -- Deputy attorneys

✓ current as of May 2026
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In cities with a city attorney, the city attorney:

may prosecute violations of city ordinances;
may prosecute, under state law, infractions and misdemeanors occurring within the boundaries of the municipality;
has the same powers in respect to violations as are exercised by a county attorney or district attorney, except that a city attorney's authority to grant immunity shall be limited to:
granting transactional immunity for violations of city ordinances; and
granting transactional immunity under state law for infractions and misdemeanors occurring within the boundaries of the municipality;
shall represent the interests of the state or the municipality in the appeal of any matter prosecuted in any trial court by the city attorney;
may cooperate with the Office of the Attorney General during investigations;
may designate a city attorney from another municipality or a public prosecutor to prosecute a matter, in the court having jurisdiction over the matter, if the city attorney has a conflict of interest regarding the matter being prosecuted;
may employ a deputy attorney to perform the duties of public prosecutor or civil counsel; and
may specially deputize, for a limited time or limited purpose, an attorney licensed to practice law in the state and in good standing with the Utah State Bar as a deputy to assist in any public prosecutor or civil counsel duties specified in the special deputization.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 7 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1992–2025 · leading case: State v. Robertson, 886 P.2d 85 (Utah Ct. App. 1994).
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State v. Robertson, 886 P.2d 85 (Utah Ct. App. 1994). · cites it 70× “Utah Code Ann. § 10-3-928 (Supp.1994). Mr.”
State v. Robertson, 924 P.2d 889 (Utah 1996). · cites it 28× “STEWART, Associate Chief Justice: This case is here on a writ of certiorari to review a decision of the Utah Court of Appeals upholding the constitutionality of Utah Code Ann. § 10-3-928 , which allows unelected city attorneys to prosecute, in the name of the State, criminal…”
State v. Brown, 853 P.2d 851 (Utah 1992). · cites it 4× “[2] Utah Code Ann. § 10-3-928 (amended in 1991 to permit prosecution of class A misdemeanors in the name of the State of Utah).”
Bronson v. Swensen, 500 F.3d 1099 (10th Cir. 2007). “VIII, § 16 (public prosecutors have “primary” authority for prosecution of criminal actions); Utah Code Ann. § 10-3-928 (authorizing city attorney to prosecute certain crimes).”
State v. Selzer, 2013 UT App 3 (Utah Ct. App. 2013). · cites it 2× “See Utah Code Ann. § 10-3-928 (2) (LexisNexis 2007) (granting city attorneys authority to prosecute "infractions and misdemeanors").”
Chilcoat (D. Utah 2025). · cites it 2× “143 Utah Code § 17-18a- 401 provides: An attorney who serves as a public prosecutor shall: (1) except for a prosecution undertaken by a city attorney under Section 10-3-928, conduct, on behalf of the state, all prosecutions for a public offense committed within a county or…”
Salt Lake City v. Peterson, 2010 UT 64 (Utah 2010). · cites it 2× “Peterson's argument on interlocutory appeal that the plain language of Utah Code section 10-3-928 prohibits a city attorney from prosecuting misdemeanors and infractions that occurred outside that city's geographical boundaries.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.