The Utah Court of Appeals Thursday drew a distinction between a judge's jurisdiction in cases involving probation and those using pleas in abeyance.
The latter is an arrangement in which a defendant may enter a guilty plea, but the court does not enter it as a conviction if the defendant complies with certain conditions.
After those conditions are met, the judge may enter a conviction on a charge less than the one to which the defendant originally pleaded guilty.
In a ruling penned by Judge Pamela T. Greenwood, the court unanimously ruled that while a judge's jurisdiction generally ends when a defendant is placed on probation, a plea in abeyance is not a final ruling of the case, and a judge can rule as he or she see fits at the end of the abeyance period.