State v. Wells, 318 P.3d 1251

Wells was charged with eight counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and four counts of lewdness involving a child for incidents in summer 2011.
The eight-year-old victim (Child) stayed with Wells and his wife (Grandmother) for a month and disclosed abuse in private conversations with Grandmother.
Grandmother reported the incidents to Wells and the police after Child disclosed more later in the stay.
Child testified to multiple acts—rubbing, touching, exposure—occurring on several occasions, including under/over clothing and while Wells carried her to bed.
The jury convicted Wells on all twelve counts; Wells appealed, challenging sufficiency of the evidence and trial counsel’s effectiveness.
The court addressed preservation of the sufficiency claim, analyzed potential ineffective assistance, and affirmed the conviction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence on the eight aggravated sexual abuse and four lewdness counts	Wells argues the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdict	Wells contends the evidence fails to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and should be reconsidered	Procedurally barred; merits not reached on appeal
Ineffective assistance for failing to file a motion to arrest judgment	Wells claims counsel performed deficiently, prejudicing the result	Filing a futile motion would not have changed the outcome; no prejudice	Counsel not ineffective; motion to arrest judgment would have been futile
Whether the motion to arrest judgment would have been futile given the trial evidence	Evidence was inherently improbable and a reversal could follow	Other corroborating evidence and specifics supported the verdict	Motion to arrest judgment would have been futile; not reversible on this basis

State v. Holgate, 2000 UT 74 (Utah Supreme Court, 2000) (preservation rule applies to claims unless exceptional circumstances or plain error)
State v. Weaver, 2005 UT 49 (Utah Supreme Court, 2005) (requires articulation of justification for review in opening brief)
State v. Kelley, 2000 UT 41 (Utah Supreme Court, 2000) (ineffective-assistance standard; prejudice required)
State v. Robbins, 2009 UT 28 (Utah Supreme Court, 2009) (inherent improbability and credibility review; circumstantial evidence may corroborate)
State v. Colwell, 2000 UT 8 (Utah Supreme Court, 2000) (standard for evaluating credibility and corroboration in reviewing verdicts)