State v. Lane, 444 P.3d 553

Lane was convicted of aggravated assault and possession of a dangerous weapon after a 2016 melee at a Salt Lake City homeless shelter in which the victim sustained facial lacerations; the surveillance video was inconclusive and the victim did not clearly identify Lane.
The State introduced evidence of two prior incidents (2012 and 2015) in which Lane had been involved in fights where knives/box cutters were used; one prior matter resulted in a guilty plea (2012), another went to trial with a not-guilty verdict (2015).
The district court admitted the prior-acts evidence under the doctrine of chances (and the Verde foundational requirements) but did not separately conduct a Rule 403 balancing analysis.
The 404(b)/doctrine-of-chances evidence consumed much of the second day of trial; the prosecutor’s opening emphasized repetition (“he did it again”), and the jury received a limiting instruction the court later found inadequate.
Lane challenged admission of the prior acts on appeal and also argued ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to seek the trial judge’s disqualification based on pretrial release remarks.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Lane)	Held
Admissibility of prior bad-act evidence under doctrine of chances / Rule 404(b) and Rule 403	Prior incidents rebut Lane's self-defense claim; doctrine of chances makes repeated similar events probative of non-accident and non-mistake	Admission improperly invites propensity inference; court failed to conduct required Rule 403 prejudice balancing	Court reversed: admission was an abuse of discretion because the court did not perform the separate Rule 403 balancing; prior-act evidence should have been excluded as unduly prejudicial and prejudicial to outcome
Ineffective assistance for failure to move to disqualify judge based on pretrial remarks	N/A (State opposed release; judge’s remarks were appropriate to release determination)	Counsel should have moved to disqualify because the judge expressed concern about Lane’s danger to the community and referred to victims’ slashed faces	Denied: counsel not ineffective. Judge’s remarks were within permissible pretrial release context and did not demonstrate disqualifying bias

State v. Verde, 296 P.3d 673 (Utah 2012) (doctrine of chances framework and four foundational requirements)
State v. Lowther, 398 P.3d 1032 (Utah 2017) (Rule 403 balancing required; courts should apply text of Rule 403 rather than mechanically applying factors)
State v. Reed, 8 P.3d 1025 (Utah 2000) (prohibition on convicting for character/propensity)
Robinson v. Taylor, 356 P.3d 1230 (Utah 2015) (harmless-error/reversal standard when evidentiary error undermines confidence in verdict)
State v. Burke, 256 P.3d 1102 (Utah Ct. App. 2011) (404(b) evidence not admissible to prove propensity)