To: Sean D. Reyes, Attorney General, The Utah State House, The Utah State Senate, and Governor Gary R. Herbert

Utah Courts & Legislators Must Mandate Availability of Satellite Testimony for Out of State Parti...

All Utah courts and judges must make satellite/virtual testimony available to out-of-state (non-resident) parties to any and all civil lawsuits and criminal trials.

Why is this important?

I am a survivor of institutional abuse at a facility in Utah. I have been outspoken against the facility that abused me for many years. That program filed a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) suit against me and my family for speaking out against the hundreds of abuses witnessed, reported, and experienced at that facility. That suit is ongoing and has not been resolved.

I live in Washington and was a Washington resident at the time of my enrollment at that facility in 1989. The majority of my 300+ witnesses do not live in Utah and have never lived in Utah. Many of us suffer PTSD as a result of our experiences in Utah and find the very idea of traveling to Utah for any reason abhorrent. Multiple witnesses submitted affidavits and sworn statements. I and many others were and are willing to testify in court via satellite. We are unable to afford multiple trips to Utah for 100s of witnesses and due to our special circumstances (having been harmed in Utah and being residents of other States), we deserve to be heard in court and for our special needs to be accommodated. Recently, victims who reported sexual abuse at a facility in Utah were emotionally traumatized by the very idea of returning to Utah to testify and the prosecutor chose not to go forward to trial because of this. It is imperative that victims of abuse and sexual assault who are residents of other States be given the opportunity to be heard in court via satellite when financial and/or any special circumstances prevent in-person testimony.