AI-generated summary. We recommend consulting the bill text for important decisions.

Under current Utah law, a person who uses force in self-defense or defense of others can claim "justification" as a legal defense — meaning their use of force was legally permitted. This bill changes that by removing the justification defense for anyone who recklessly or negligently injures or kills an innocent bystander while using force that would otherwise have been justified against the intended target. It also clarifies that in such cases, the state cannot automatically treat the harm to a bystander as intentional just because the person intended to use force against someone else. Additionally, the bill allows defendants charged with recklessly or negligently harming a bystander during an otherwise justified use of force to request a pretrial hearing — where they must first make a basic case for justification before the state must disprove it by clear and convincing evidence.