Lawmakers mull mandatory 10-year sentences for child torture convictions

SALT LAKE CITY — A legislative committee advanced a bill that would establish a mandatory minimum sentence for people convicted of child torture, though future changes are expected after some lawmakers expressed concern about the current language.

The proposal comes after a pair of high-profile child abuse cases involving Gavin Peterson, a 12-year-old who died last year; and Ruby Franke, a Utah mother who in 2023 pleaded guilty to four charges of aggravated child abuse after admitting to physically torturing her children.

Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke presented the bill to the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee on Thursday afternoon, along with its sponsor, Sen. Don Ipson, R-St. George.

Clarke worked on the Franke case and said current sentencing guidelines for aggravated child abuse mean that a person could be sentenced to probation if it is their first offense — though he noted that Franke would likely spend years in prison. But even if they are sentenced to jail time, he said, parole hearings could come as early as a year into a sentence, which could make it harder for children to recover from emotional and physical harm after being tortured.

The 10-year minimum for child torture cases proposed by SB24 “gives that runway into their healing process before they’re even having to deal with any of those things.”

“As a state, we need to send a message that that’s not OK and that’s not how we treat our kids,” Clarke said. “We protect our kids, we don’t torture our kids. … To me, minimum mandatory crimes are the crimes where we’re sending that kind of message. We’re like, this kind of behavior is so bad there aren’t halfway points.”

The bill faced some pushback, however, chiefly from defense attorneys who argued that mandatory minimum sentences could give an inordinate amount of power to government prosecutors over defendants.

“This bill is not necessary,” said Mark Moffat with the Defense Lawyers Association. “The crimes that Mr. Clarke and the doctor described are already crimes on the books in the state of Utah, and they are being aggressively prosecuted by prosecutorial agencies.”

Steve Burton, with the Defense Attorneys Association, noted that judges cannot offer leniency when mandatory minimums are applied and said the bill practically guarantees “that an injustice will occur at some point down the road.”

Opponents also took issue with the definitions of child torture in the bill, which says that a person commits the crime when they cause “a serious injury that is inflicted in an exceptionally cruel or exceptionally depraved manner that causes the child to experience extreme physical or psychological pain or anguish.” Moffat said the meaning of “exceptionally cruel or exceptionally depraved” is ambiguous as written and asked that lawmakers clarify it.

Mental health counselor Jessica Black, with the Utah Mental Health Counselors Association, said she supports the bill but similarly suggested a narrowing of the language to more clearly define what “psychological injury” means.

Several members of the committee expressed similar concerns about the mandatory minimum sentences, and although they voted to advance the bill, they did so with the expectation that Ipson would work on amendments to address the concerns before it comes up for a vote in the full Senate.

“In my own experience, I’ve seen a lot of different cases with varying degrees of conduct that can get charged under the same statute, and I value the discretion that we afford judges to be able to sentence in a way that is an appropriate reflection of the conduct,” said Sen. Stephanie Pitcher, D-Salt Lake City.

Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, the chairman of the committee, said he would like to make a “data-driven decision” and asked Clarke to provide citations to other cases that can help the lawmakers better define child torture.

After the discussion, Moffat told KSL.com he still had “real concerns with mandatory minimums” and said he senses some lawmakers have a lack of trust in judges and the Board of Pardons and Parole to make decisions on sentencing for some cases.

SB24 now advances to the Senate floor for consideration, after which it must pass the House and be signed by the governor before becoming law.