District Court (Second District) Criminal case files

Dates: 1855-1895.

4.00 cubic feet and 5 microfilm reels

These records are housed in the Utah State Archives' permanent storage room.

Historical Note

An agency history is available.

Scope and Content

Case files document criminal cases as they proceed through the court system and subsequently become the official files of individual cases. Recurrent criminal offenses include theft, larceny, perjury, forgery, libel, mayhem, kidnapping, murder, assault, contempt, unlawful cohabitation, etc. A criminal case is initiated with a complaint, indictment, or arrest warrant. Individual case files may include petitions to the court, complaints, warrants of execution and confinement, warrant of death, notices of appeal, subpoenas, attachments, affidavits, trial evidence, remittitur, jury lists and memorandum of costs. Case 31 is the John D. Lee trial concerning his involvement in the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Arrangement

Numerical by case number.

Research Note

The vast majority of the cases involving polygamy and related charges have been removed and are located at The National Archives, Rocky Mountain Region, located in Denver, Colorado.

Related Records

Minute books from the District Court (Second District), Series 5319, elaborate on the proceedings of these cases.

Final case records from the District Court (Second District), Series 24071, document findings of cases heard by the grand jury in the Territorial Second District Court.

Criminal registers of actions from the District Court (Second District), Series 24346, contain a chronological list of documents filed and fees paid related to these case files.

Criminal case index from the District Court (Second District), Series 24553, provides the case number and the corresponding page number in the register of actions for criminal cases heard in the Territorial Second District Court.

Access Restrictions

This series is classified as Public.

Preferred Citation

Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.

Gaps in Series

Gaps in holdings are numerous and the numbering is inconsistent throughout.

Processing Note

This series was archivally processed by Jim Kichas and Emily Gurr in May 2008 as part of a NHPRC grant project designed to preserve the historic records of Utah's Fifth District Courts.

Indexing Terms

Container List

REEL	DESCRIPTION
1	Case Files: 1 - 585; 1855 - 1889
2	Case Files: 586 - 702; 1889 - 1893
3	Case Files: 705 - 781; 1893 - 1895
4	Case Files: 782 - 964;1895
4	Case File: 31 (John D. Lee); 1874 - 1877

BOX	DESCRIPTION
1	Case Files: 1 - 611; 1855 - 1895
2	Case Files: 612 - 781; 1855 - 1895
3	Case Files: 782 - 964; 1855 - 1895
4	John D. Lee Case File; 1874 - 1877