'Spiraling' Dad Left Kids in Snow During 'Hike from Hell': Indictment

A fundraiser brought in more than. $60,000 for a [music] Utah father who'd. gotten stranded on a mountainside with. his three young children during a bad. storm. But that GoFundMe [music] page is. now gone. And that dad is facing child. torture charges after investigators. alleged they discovered [music] he. intentionally put his children in harm's. way on a dangerous hike, likely. traumatizing them for the rest of their. lives. >> This hike was a hard hike. This is not. an easy hike. This is a one that even as.

uh trained professionals, [music]. they suffered injury trying to uh. respond to it. And. >> you will not believe the horror these. kids [music] went through. The. disturbing details are all laid out in a. brand new indictment and [music] we are. taking you through it all right now. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. All right, I got to talk about this real. quick because it affects millions of. Americans. Open enrollment is happening. again. You know where you compare the. exploitative premiums and the fine print.

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million. So, this open enrollment, take. your power back. Join Crowd Health to. get started today for $99 for your first. three months using code sidebar at. joincrowalth.com. Crowdalth, it's not insurance. You can. opt out, but this is how we win. Join. crowdhealth.com. Are we going to freeze to death, Daddy? That's what a little girl can be heard. asking her father in a video recovered. from his phone after he allegedly took. his three young children on an extremely. difficult hike up the side of a mountain.

before eventually abandoning them in the. freezing rain, hail, and snow. This is a. new set of allegations that we need to. talk about. When Micah Smith and his. three children went hiking in the Broads. Fork Trail area in Utah in October, it. seemed like a wholesome family outing. The 31-year-old apparently wanting to. show his children the stunning views of. Big Cottonwood Canyon outside Salt Lake. City. But the excursion quickly turned. into the hike from hell, and Smith's. children ended up stranded on the.

mountain trail. And now he is facing. criminal charges. Let me take you back. to October 11th. Smith reportedly set. off for the hiking trail with his two. sons, a 2-year-old, a four-year-old, and. his 8-year-old daughter. Just remember. those ages, 248. When they were later. reported missing, the Salt Lake County. Sheriff's Office dispatched its search. and rescue teams to find them. They. searched the area from above and. helicopters, eventually locating the. family. And according to a police. affidavit, search and rescue team.

members say the children, at least two. of them, were close to dying because of. those conditions, were in a spot so. difficult to get to that rescuers almost. couldn't reach them. And that location. is important. That location is important. when we talk about criminal liability. here. Not the trail, but off the trail. That's the allegation. Now, because of. his alleged actions, deputies arrested. Smith on three counts of child torture. and three counts of aggravated child. abuse. So, one charge each for each of. his three children. Salt Lake County.

District Attorney Sam Gill spoke about. Smith's arrest on November 26th. >> From the evidence that was also gathered. from the investigation, they found out. that this was something uh the children. were afraid to do. uh as the storms came. in that uh the uh defendant pressed them. on into uh into changing conditions uh. whereby exposing them to the potential. harm which is the physical basis of the. charges that occurred. The other part. that was really critical to us was not. only that the children were afraid.

afraid, but as was uh indicated by the. older child that she had to try to uh do. CPR to try to save her brother and to. also to continue to go through that. experience where she communicated fear. and concern and they were told to march. on. So based on the totality of those. circumstances, we had filed the charges. that we did which resulted in six. felonya accounts being fired filed, excuse me. And again, let me underscore. that this is these are allegations only.

And there's a presumption of innocence. that applies here. >> And then you have this indictment that. was filed by the district attorney for. Salt Lake County that lays out the. shocking details of what these three. young children allegedly went through on. that hike. what Smith himself apparently. told deputies when they questioned him. and how his own cell phone activity. helped further the investigation, which. we need to talk about. And the court. paperwork offers a scathing rebuke of. Smith and his alleged actions. Quote, "What seemed like an innocent hike with.

his three children quickly turned into a. nightmare when the defendant chose to. summit a mountain over the safety of the. kids. The defendant who was supposed to. be the protector of his children was. illprepared and extremely selfish. So to. talk about the details from this. indictment, I want to welcome back on. Utah criminal defense attorney Sky. Lazaro. Uh Sky, thank you so much for. coming on. Now, before we even get into. what happened to these children, my. understanding is you know this trail, right? Like you know this terrain, you. know this hike. We're not from I'm not.

from there. Uh for people who don't. know, what is this like? How, you know, steep is it? How dangerous is it? How. tough is it? Particularly not only for. adults, you're talking little kids here. >> Yeah, we're talking about a two and a. fouryear-old. And where this trail is. located is actually up where Brighton. Ski Resort is. Uh for people who ski or. have been to Utah to ski. Uh so we're. talking about, you know, essentially. going up uh the Wasach Front. Uh and you.

know, the top of that is where a ski. mountain is. So, this is really rocky. terrain. Uh, it's very steep in places. There are some hikes that are a little. bit more kid-friendly or or friendlier. for people who uh don't have hiking. experience, but some of these are take. very experienced hikers to hike. >> Yeah. So, when you heard that a father. allegedly took his young children up. there, was your first impression, wait a.

minute, that doesn't sound right. I. haven't I don't You don't really do. that. is that I mean you mentioned like. there's some trails where you can bring. children but at first glance does that. strike you as strange and not normal. >> This would not be one of them. Uh. sometimes you'll see people with kids in. backpacks. Uh but you don't generally. see children hiking these types of. trails, especially that trail. >> Generally speaking, how are child. torture, child abuse cases, how are they. prosecuted? How are they defended? How.

are they different from other criminal. cases? We've seen a number of child. abuse cases and some that have take, you. know, gotten some national attention, thinking of Ruby Frankie and cases like. that. There's also been a change to our. uh child abuse laws because of those. types of cases. Uh for cases where it's. been prolonged uh abuse over a period of. time and they've gotten much more severe. about those cases. Usually when we look. at child abuse or neglect cases, it is,

you know, either uh physical uh beatings. or withholding food, uh things like that. that teachers maybe have noticed and. turned people in for. This is probably. one of the few cases where I've seen it. being charged uh in a case like this. where, you know, they were out on a. hike. Was it a good decision? No. uh should you have taken a child up. there, but uh I haven't seen a child. abuse case uh charged in a case similar.

to this. >> I want to dig into this indictment a and. get a better sense of this. Now, to be. clear, Smith is innocent until proven. guilty. But in my opinion, it contains. arguably really damning and disturbing. details. So, as we go through this, I'm. going to warn everybody. The children. who aren't identified by name, they all. have nearly the same initials here. And. this is incredibly disturbing details, okay? But we have EAS, who is apparently. an 8-year-old girl. EZS is the. four-year-old boy, and ES is the.

2-year-old little brother. Now, the. children's mother and Smith's wife. identified in documents as SS was not on. the hike. So, it was just the father. Okay. Now, the trail itself is really. difficult. We talked about this trail. guide blogs and websites. They have. described the trail as challenging, consistently uphill with the US Forest. Service saying it has extensive rock. faces and rugged terrain and climb. steeply to an overlook. The district. attorney said at one point that Smith. and his children weren't even on the. trail anymore. They were climbing.

through this thick brush and vegetation. Take a listen. >> Uh certainly uh the evidence showed that. the this was first of all a hike. This. is not recommended for children. It is. not a hike that is not recommended for. inexperienced uh people going on. This. is a hike that led to a a a at a certain. point there are no more trails and and. as they uh as we said that one of the. child talks about and we had evidence.

that was presented at screening that. they were going over rocks that were. slipping. They were having to grab onto. vegetation as they were trying to hike. as they were further going up. So the. hike itself is not an easy one. And as. we stated in our Pablo Ka statement that. experienced hikers from search and re. rescue themselves were injured in the. process of trying to do it. They talked. about how the ground was shifting, how. they had to grab onto uh different uh uh. vegetation. And so this was on its.

inception not an easy hike that you. would take a child upon. >> Now when the father and children were. reported as overdue hikers, the search. and rescue teams, they sat on the ground. and in the air. And according to the. indictment, it reads, "Search and rescue. team members encountered Smith on the. trail and noted that Smith was behaving. oddly and did not appear to be concerned. about the children." Smith also told S. members that one of his children was. dead. So, it's incredibly jarring.

information to apparently be hearing as. you're just starting your search for. missing children. Thankfully, it wasn't. true. The indictment continues. Members. of the S team, Deputy Franchow and. Trooper Haney, deployed via helicopter. and located EAS standing alongside a. boulder with a few sticks stacked. against it and were hoisted to their. location. They noted that the children. were not wearing much clothing, stating. that ES was under EZS and EZS was mostly. exposed, unconscious, and appeared.

lifeless. Now, those deputies reported. they couldn't even find a pulse on EZS. Again, this four-year-old, so he was. taken to the hospital first. As far as. we know, he's still there now. The. details provided about his condition, they are just absolutely heartbreaking. According to first responders, they had. to do CPR on EZS for 25 minutes to keep. him alive. His body temperature was a. shocking 62.6°. Fahrenheit. The indictment states that. this four-year-old suffered a stroke and. had to have a portion of his skull.

removed and a drain put in. It is awful. It is awful. Now, Sky, those injuries. suffered by just one of those children, allegedly because of his own father's. careless behavior. Let me start there. Is this a case, and we'll get into more. details, where you could say a father. was trying to do the right thing, take. them out on an excursion, have them have. a great experience, and the weather was. unforeseeable. There was uh, you know,

this was just a tragic consequence. It's. not bad parenting. It's not Maybe it's. bad parenting, but it's not child. torture. It's not child abuse. But when. you look at those injuries and you think. about the father taking him to that. location, he is he's you know, we say it. in the law, strict liability, right? There's like there's no excuse. There's. nothing. If these injuries are. sustained, you're guilty. Not exactly. the case, right? But but talk to me. about this idea of is.

lapse in parenting, a lapse in judgment, is that a defense here or you look at. these injuries, there's no excuse. >> I think these injuries are pretty bad. I. think there's always cases across the. country where, like you said, people get. caught up in situations that were. unforeseeable. The weather changed, you. know, people get lost in the woods, people get lost on hikes, and it's an. accident. And I think this, even if you. look at it under like a reckless men's. ray, giving him this guy the benefit of.

every doubt that he didn't mean for any. of this to happen, going out on a trail. like this, what happened is not an. unforeseen circumstance. This wasn't. like the weather turned and we got lost. He had no business being on that trail. with these children. Um, now in. defending that case, maybe he's not. from, you know, is he from Utah? Does he. know? you know the problem is is yes uh. in this case and so when you look at. these injuries these are very severe. injuries uh and it's not it's not as if.

somebody fell accidentally I mean. there's defenses to these cases right. where somebody didn't mean for something. to happen or you get lost or you get. stuck or a kid falls down you know kids. do get hurt and it's not child abuse all. the time I think this case is going to. be a little bit harder to defend And and. I honestly think because we have such an. outdoor community and it's so widely. regarded in Utah, I'm not sure the. district attorney's office would charge.

a case uh that they didn't think there. was at least some basis for. >> right. Well, those alleged statements. that he made, how problematic are those? I mean, because I do again, I'm. wondering what a defense could be. Maybe. he was hallucinate hallucinating from. his exposure to the elements. Didn't. realize what he was saying. They're not. saying that yet, but I'm just wondering. if because to say you're acting weird. when law enforcement's trying to find. out what happened to your kids and then. saying, you know, you think they're. dead. That's not good. That's not good. for what you're charged with.

>> No, it's not. It actually, you know, can. can cut the other way and maybe it was. intentional. You know, if if maybe I was. going to ask you lost. I think. >> Do you think there could be upgraded. charges? Manslaughter, murder. I mean, attempted murder. I don't think they're. going to upgrade the charges unless new. information comes to light to support. those. I think if they thought they had. those, they would have probably charged. them uh early on. Now, that doesn't mean. as the investigation unfolds and maybe.

they don't learn more as they I know we. have some text messages, but if they get. more into his phone and and see some. stuff in the past where, you know, could. this been an unfortunate circumstance. where he took the kids up there and was. going to leave them? I don't know. Let's. hope not, right? Let's hope this was at. best just a really bad decision. Uh and. and maybe, you know, looking at it from. the defense side, sure, those statements. could have been he was dehydrated. You. know, he had been exposed to the. elements. He's been he'd been out there.

as well. Uh and so he wasn't in his. right frame of mind at the time he was. speaking. It you know, I think defenses. are tough until you can look at. everything and and kind of get your mind. wrapped around what's out there. So, so. let me get into why that's going to be. really difficult for him. So, EAS, this. 8-year-old girl allegedly provided a ton. of information to authorities about what. had happened over the last 24 hours or. so. I'm going to read from the. indictment. Quote, EAS reported that on. the day of the hike, they got snacks. She said Smith told her it was going to.

be a 9-mile hike and a 9hour hike, but. wasn't sure which. EAS described that. she was tired at the beginning of the. hike and ate the snacks they were. supposed to save. EAS said they climbed. about 2 miles from the top and they had. to climb rocks and grab onto bushes. EAS. said near the top the clouds started to. come in and she suggested to Smith that. they should go, but he shook his head no. and said this is a once ina-lifetime. thing. EAS said she again expressed to.

Smith that they should really go and. that she was getting scared. EAS said. Smith told her, "You shall not pass.". And then the storm came in really. quickly and described that it was. snowing, hailing, and raining. She said. she was worried about not living, but. Smith told her that they were okay. EAS. described that it was a really hard. night and she was freezing cold. She. described that she had to keep ES warm. and Smith had to keep ES warm. EAS. described that their teeth were.

chattering and their clothes were wet. Now, Sky, it's it's one thing to say, you know, how how do you interview a. child victim? How do investigators or. interviewers determine whe which parts. of the story are credible? Look at the. injuries. I mean, it seems to me that. this account, which is instrumental in. these charges and potentially going to. be instrumental if this child has to. testify at a trial against her father, um they're backed up by the injuries.

No. I would say yes. And and listening. to that story, it doesn't sound like. she's embellishing a lot. I mean, it. sounds pretty matterof fact in terms of. what it's like up there. Having having. been on that trail, that is a very. difficult trail. Um, and for someone who. hikes a lot and is in good shape, you. know, it's difficult and it's hard. Those kids really had no business being. up there. The other thing is is why. would you just not turn around when your.

kids are tired? I mean, there's there's. a lot of things here. Um, and then. spending overnight up there, it's cold, you know, and you get up high, it's it's. really cold and there's not a lot of. shelter up there. >> And saying, you know, tough parenting. I. wanted him to experience this. I that's. not going to work as defense. I mean, is. the is she going to have to testify. against her father in open court if this. goes to trial? there's some mechanism in. place where you don't have to have a. minor victim testify against their.

father. >> She would have to testify at trial. Now, there'll be a CJC interview that was. done, which is probably what they're. quoting from, uh, that's done, you know, by people who are trained to interview. children. At a preliminary hearing. phase, they can use that CJC interview. so that she wouldn't have to testify. But most likely, if this case ends up at. trial, she would have to take the stand. Now, let's hope that there's a way to. either resolve this or something else. that doesn't require that cuz nobody.

wants to put a 10-year-old on the stand. to testify against her own father. >> No. No. Um, now investigators, they also. spoke with Smith himself. Okay. And at. this point, the deputies, they were just. trying to figure out what had happened. They weren't necessarily looking at. Smith as a suspect in a criminal case. yet. I mean, they're trying to. understand, was this just a tragedy? What happened here? Well, according to. Smith, on the morning of October 11th, he decided to take the kids on a hike, and they left their home at around 9:00. a.m. They stopped at a store to get new.

shoes and socks to hike in, and they got. to the trail head at around 10:00 a.m. According to the indictment, quote, Smith stated they made really good time. up the trail and were near the summit at. around 6 p.m. Let's pause for a second. and let that sink in. So 8 hours on a. trail rated as difficult with a. 2-year-old, four-year-old, and. 8-year-old. The affidavit continues. Smith said around this time, the weather. turned to mist, fog, rain, and hail. Smith said they attempted to hike back.

down the trail and made it approximately. 600 ft down before he decided they. should find shelter and estimated it was. 8:00 p.m. Smith admitted he was. unfamiliar with the trail. He also. admitted that he did not check the trail. reports or the weather prior to heading. out for the hike. Sky, if that's true, how does that factor into this? >> One, it's dark in Utah at that time. I. don't know why you're still going uphill. uh when you know you have to come back. down uh in the dark is probably the. first problem. The other thing, not.

checking weather reports, I think is. reckless. I also think a lot of people. probably do that where they head up a. trail and and maybe have it looked and. seen with the weather. We see that in. southern Utah all the time where people. get caught in slot canyons with, you. know, torrential rains. So that to me is. probably reckless. I think, you know, if. it had just been that. maybe he doesn't get charged, but all. these other things that are factored. into it that are a little, you know, bring it to a little bit more than just.

bad decisions. So, so in other words, reckless is not the standard when we're. talking about torture and aggravated. child abuse. There needs to be an intent. element there. >> It Yeah, it needs to be intentionally. and knowingly. >> Okay, so let's continue. So, at this. point, according to what Smith. apparently told investigators, he tries. to make a makeshift shelter under a. rocky overhang. He claimed he put. needles on the ground, used his shirt to. make a wall. He then allegedly told the. kids to take off their wet clothes, huddle together for warmth. Now, things. were going from bad to worse as the.

evidence of just how badly his children. were suffering started to show. The. probable cause statement says that Smith. claimed ES, the 2-year-old, fell and hit. his head and appeared dazed and Ez was. in a bad way. Smith said ees was very. cold, had difficulty breathing during. the night. He told the deputies he. performed CPR on EZ multiple times and. remember this is the four-year-old, the. one who was lifellighted in very. critical condition. And this next part. of the indictment is just stunning. Quote, Smith reported he also taught EAS.

how to do CPR and gave her instructions. to do CPR on EZS while he was gone. And. Smith said that he then left the three. children and went down the mountain. Now. Sky, if he goes on the stand, okay, and. he testifies to all this, okay, and. says, "Look, I'm trying to protect my. children. I'm trying to save my children. left to try to find help. Is that. sufficient? >> That's a tough call, right? Do you leave. to one? There's very few places up there.

you don't have cell service. So, I'm. going to throw that out there. >> Okay, that's fair. That's fair. >> Maybe maybe he did it where he was. That's fine. Um, but a lot of those. hikes, your phone will work uh pretty. well. >> So, the leaving is really like what. separates this case from a sheer. tragedy. And I'll get into more of the. the cell phone. >> Yeah. I mean, I think the leaving is. hard. I think, you know, if you've been. in an emergency situation out in the.

wilderness, there is always the do I do. I try to get this person, can I safely. try to get this person out of here or is. it better, you know, to leave them where. they are because of their injuries and. get get help as quickly as I can. I. think that's always the dilemma. anybody. in a situation where something bad. happens that's not intentional, that's. not criminal, that's just an accident, right? That's always the question. But I. don't know that leaving three kids.

behind on that trail. where you can probably safely try to get. them out is a very good idea. Um, especially, I mean, we're talking about. a two I mean, the 10year-old is is is a. problem. the the four-year-old's a. problem, but we're also talking about I. believe wasn't one of them, too. >> Yeah. >> You know, talking about you're leaving a. two-year-old unsupervised. >> Yeah. >> Uh with a four-year-old who's injured. and a 10-year-old who's who's trying to. do CPR. I I mean, there's there's some.

big problems with this case, I think. >> Yeah. And by the way, so during. interviews after that, Smith was. mirandized, but apparently stuck to. pretty much the same version of the. story. He reportedly confirmed that. after ES fell and hit his head, stopped. breathing multiple times during the. night. Smith said he believes he did CPR. on EZ for a large portion of the night, about every 5 minutes. So, the question. is, why didn't he turn back and head for. safety as soon as there was an. indication of the coming storm? Well,

here's what Smith reportedly told. investigators. Quote, Smith admitted. that he considered turning around to the. weather when they were close to the. peak, but he wanted to finish the hike. before turning around. Smith also said. that the kids asked to go home, but he. thought they would be okay and continued. hiking. Smith said that EZ, EAS, and ES. complained about the hike through most. of the hike, and he managed the. complaints by taking breaks, giving. encouragement, and playing games with. them. Smith said they watched the. weather come in and he sent photos to.

his wife SS who suggested they start. hiking down the mountain. However, Smith. reported that he was comfortable hiking. in the dark without a light. Quote, "Law. enforcement noted that the hike Smith. took easy, EAS, and ES on was nearly 9. miles, rated hard, not recommended for. beginner hikers or children." They also. noted that the weather on the date of. the hike showed rain and thunderstorms, strong winds, below normal temperatures, and snow in the mountains. And by the. way, investigators would later discover.

evidence on Smith's phone that. corroborated what his daughter had told. them. The first part of that evidence. was videos that he recorded during the. hike. So, the probable cause statement. reads, quote, "In one of the videos, EAS. expressed that the clouds were moving in. fast and asked Smith, are we going to. freeze to death, Daddy?" Smith responded. that they were quote almost to the top. In another video, Smith told the. children that the path they would take. was not the normal one and that they. were taking the path last traveled, then.

explained that the path will be hard and. is not easy. In multiple videos, EZS and. EAS are observed hiking with no trail, scaling the sides of the cliff, and. trying to make it through the bushes. The children are observed struggling, complaining, and cold. Sky, I I listen. to this evidence, and I think to myself, if this comes in, you got to work on a plea deal if you're. a defense attorney because I don't I. don't know how you fight back against. something like this. >> I agree with you. I mean, we Here's the.

thing. As we've talked about, these. charging documents are always the. greatest hits that the state has, right? They're not going to put exculpatory. evidence in them. They're going to put, you know, the evidence they have that. support the charges or they believe. supports the charges. Uh even that being. said, I think there if if this video. evidence comes in, which it will, I. mean, I can't think of a way to keep it. out as long as they can authenticate it. that it came from his phone at the time. he was on the hike. uh along with the.

injuries for the children which are. coming in and any testimony from the. kids which is coming in uh he's he. whoever he hires or whoever is defending. him unless there's some really good. exculpatory evidence out there and I. can't really think of anything that. would override I know the weather is. getting bad I took my kids on a 9mi hike. that they shouldn't have been on to. begin with and then I took them off the. trail uh And then instead of carrying.

them out when they got hurt, I left. them. And you know, you got problems. I. think you better start you bet you start. talking about what's the best we can do. in this so that he can see his kids. again someday. >> Now, the other critical piece of. evidence apparently found on Smith's. phone were text messages between him and. his wife. According to the filing, quote, "During the hike, Smith sent text. messages to SS where they discussed the. children. SS asked if the children were. safe and he responded with a photo at.

5:17 p.m. In the photo, dark clouds and. rain are visible in the distance. At. 5:18 p.m., Smith responded, "Yes, EZ is. exhausted. We're almost to the very top, but everyone is starting to fail and. it's starting to rain. I'm getting tired. of carrying ES. It's tough with three. children and no second parent." They. engage in a text argument and at 5:26. p.m. SS told Smith, "You better leave. It's going to get dark." At 6:02 p.m., Smith responded, "I know it's stressing.

me out or deep in the clouds." SS. responded at 6:04 p.m., "Child. endangerment. Not cool." At 6:11 p.m., Smith sent SS a photo that showed EAS. and EZ in the clouds surrounded by rocks. and snow. ES appears visibly cold. SS. responded at 6:11 p.m., "Get them home.". At 6:41 p.m., she sent a message that. said, "Well, okay, Sky, thoughts?". >> Like I said, your phone works up there.

Why would you not call for help at some. point? like and what you know the other. question is maybe she should have but I. know she's not charged in this case but. I you know we've seen cases where the. other parent you know maybe gets charged. you know with something lesser uh for. not. interfering or or calling law. enforcement or reporting it or something. else. But all that aside, [snorts].

you know, the fact that when that child. got hurt that he didn't send an. emergency message or a text message to. her that says, "Send help to my. location." Uh, I think it's just one. more bad fact for him. And the fact that. she's telling him to turn around and. come home and he is, you know, I don't. want to use the word obsessed, but super. focused on getting to the top. For what. reason? Who knows? I mean, I get wanting. to finish a hike, but you got little.

kids with you. You know, you should have. gone half a mile up that trail and. turned around and come back. >> Yeah. And as far as the the wife, you. know, it's it might be difficult for a. significant other, a wife, a husband to. really accept that. Wait, is he. purposely endangering the children? I. mean, if I'm going to trust if. everything's okay, I mean, that could be. the case. But I'll tell you this much. Tell you this much, okay? According to. uh Salt Lake County investigators, this. isn't the first time that Smith had. interactions with police. His indictment. states, quote, "Approximately one month.

before this incident, the defendant. expressed suicidal ideiations and was. located by the Cottonwood Heights Police. Department attempting to locate a. mountain. He [snorts] reported to the. officer that he was going through a. really hard time and was going to hike. to the top of a mountain. The defendant. had two firearms and an axe in his. vehicle when he was contacted by the. police. However, he denied that he was. going to kill himself. Now, Sky, how. does that factor into this? Do you think. A, this is something that would actually.

come into evidence at the trial, and B, go back to this other concept that we. have, you know, if we're talking about, >> again, I don't want to put blame on. anybody, right? But. >> thinking about what had just happened to. him and going up to a mountain with the. children, >> you know, I I don't I don't know what. the conversation was beforehand, but I. guess the point is for this for purposes. of the legal discussion. Is this. relevant to the case at hand? Does this. come in to his case?

>> It could. I mean, I I can foresee a. situation where this where that evidence. would come in, especially if he's going. to take the stand and testify and say, you know, everything was fine. I don't. have any problems. We were just they. were safe. You know, we were just going. to get to the top and come back and then. it didn't go right. You know, I I can I. can see the prosecutors wanting to use. this. Now, >> it's not really 404B bad acts. Uh,

but I I can see it going to a state of. mind or or something along those lines. or should he have had the children? What. was he doing? So, I think in a world. where he testifies that this evidence. would come in, especially, you know, if. they ask him, you know, have you ever. had any problems? and he says no, you. know, or did you have any any mental. health issues about, you know, getting. to the top of this mountain? It's also a.

little bit in line with the way maybe to. explain the way he was acting when he. came down. Maybe he does have uh some. mental health issues. uh that will factor into this case. probably both for the prosecution and. the defense. Uh, I could I could foresee. the defense trying to use something. along those lines to try to get a better. plea deal and say, you know, >> look, he was he was going through a. mental health episode. This wasn't. intentionally and knowingly. He wasn't. trying to injure the children. Should he.

have had them up there? No. But he needs. help. So, I I could see this I could see. them trying to use this, you know, both. sides. >> That's a good point. That's a good. point. Um, you know, I should mention. there's another bizarre detail, too. So. Smith is also accused of going to see. his four-year-old son at the hospital. and messing with the messing with the. equipment that's helping to keep him. alive. Yeah. The indictment says on. November 10th, 2025, the defendant was. trespassed from Primary Children's.

Hospital for interfering with EZS's care. and tampering with equipment. He was. arrested for domestic violence in. connection with that alleged stunt. Sky, I don't even know what to make of that, but I imagine that has more of a chance. of coming into this case than maybe the. uh maybe what he was up to before the. hike. >> The state's going to show is that or. going to try to show is that, you know, he created this situation where the. children were injured and that's how you. get to child abuse. And so what he did.

after I think becomes relevant as to you. know what his you know you don't have to. prove motive you know but what his state. of mind was or what he was thinking when. he went up that trail. If I'm the. defense I'm really hoping at this point. that there is some sort of mental health. problem that you can lean on a little. bit to explain this type of behavior. because otherwise it really looks like. you're trying to intentionally harm or. kill your children.

So, when news of the family's rescue. first made headlines back in October, there was a ground swell of support for. Smith. Okay, that was before the. allegations of what happened on the. mountain were made public. And according. to the Salt Lake Tribune, there was a. GoFundMe that was started by a man. identifying himself as Smith's brother. raised more than $60,000 for the family. before it was taken down. The Tribune. says that the GoFundMe page had stated. that Smith quote bravely sacrificed. himself for his children. reportedly. wrote, "Micah is a good dad who loves.

his kids and loves taking them on. adventures. Unfortunately, tragedy. struck this time around." Now, it's. unclear what happened to the money. raised now that the page has been taken. down, but clearly there has been a. change in the narrative and. understanding about what may have. happened to these kids. The online court. document, the online court docket. doesn't show when Smith will be in court. next, but for now, he is being held, our. understanding, without bail at the Salt. Lake County Jail. And at last check, at. least two of his three children remain. hospitalized. We are sending our best.

wishes and well wishes to them and a. speedy recovery. My gosh, this is awful. Um Sky Lazaro, thank you so much for. taking the time. Really appreciate it. >> Yeah, thanks for having me. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcast. You can follow me on X. or Instagram. [music] I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.