The judge who will hear and decide a motion to quash bindover following preliminary examination (preliminary hearing) will normally be the same judge who is assigned to the case for trial. The judge assigned for trial may also be the same judge who heard the preliminary examination.
Prior to the late 1990’s, when Utah’s court system still included circuit courts and district courts, a preliminary examination was always held in the circuit court, with a circuit court judge acting in the role of magistrate. If the circuit court judge found that there was probable cause to support the charges, then the case was “bound over” to the district court for trial. A district court judge would then be assigned for further proceedings in the case, including motions to suppress, a motion to quash, motions in limine, or other litigation leading up to trial.
With the elimination of the circuit court system, both preliminary examination and trial are heard in the district court. For some time , many Utah courts would assign one judge to hear the preliminary examination, and then assign a different judge to the case for trial and pre-trial litigation. But most courts viewed this only as a matter of practice rather than as something required by law. Many courts, especially in more rural jurisdictions, assigned the same district court judge to hear the preliminary examination, pre-trial litigation, and trial.
As of 2019, Rule 7B of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure specifically provides that a motion to quash bindover is to be heard by the same judge assigned to the case for trial, “regardless of whether the judge conducted the preliminary examination in the judge’s role as a magistrate.”