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State v. Burgess-Beynon9/10/2004
d at 313 (noting that in statutory interpretation, the meaning of a word is determined from the context in which it is used). A police vehicle can be a place of confinement for the detention and transportation of individuals arrested for criminal activity.
**10 In addition, other jurisdictions have held that a police vehicle may act as a temporary jail. For example, in State v. Torgrimson, 637 N.W.2d 345 (Minn.Ct.App.2002), the court held that a defendant has no reasonable expectation of privacy in a police vehicle because "the back seat of the vehicle can act as the equivalent of a temporary jail cell." Id. at 350. We agree.
**11 This reading of the damaging jails statute is consistent with the legislative intent to punish criminals who damage public property during their confinement. Accordingly, we hold that the trial court did not err in interpreting "other place of confinement," Utah Code Ann. § 76-8-418, to include a police vehicle, [FN1] and we therefore affirm.
FN1. We note the narrow factual nature of our holding. We hold only that where a person has been arrested and placed in a police vehicle and then damages the vehicle while confined in it, that person can be found guilty of violating the damaging jails statute.
CONCLUSION
**12 We hold that the plain language of "other place of confinement" in the damaging jails statute includes confinement within a police vehicle. Utah Code Ann. § 76-8-418. Accordingly, we affirm.
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