Utah Dad Ripped Apart for Ditching Kids on 'Hike from Hell'

Mr. Ross, what is the state's position. on a request for a pre-trial supervised. release? >> That's a hard no, your honor. >> Utah father Micah Smith allegedly forced. his three young children on a freezing. 9mm mountain hike, leaving two fighting. for their lives. And now, for the first. time since the [music] charges were. filed, he faced a judge to decide could. he go free [music] or is he too. dangerous to be released. We have got an. inside look at that high stakes first. [music] hearing and we are going to. break it all down for you right now.

Welcome to Sidebar presented by Law and. Crime. [music] I'm Jesse Weber. This is a case that we [music] had to. provide you an update on when it came in. because it just broke our hearts. It. broke our hearts when you really think. about what these young children. reportedly went through. What started. with a Utah father, a family hike, a. seemingly great adventure, it ended with. three children fighting for their lives. in a freezing mountains storm. We told. you about Micah Smith, charged with six.

firstdegree felonies, three counts each. of child torture and aggravated child. abuse after allegedly taking his three. young children on an extreme 9mm. mountain hike rated as difficult and. hazardous for even experienced adults. The alleged details were harrowing, especially, by the way, his daughter's. desperate question on video asking, "Are. we going to freeze to death, Daddy?" His. four-year-old son found with no pulse a. body temperature of 62 degrees. The. prosecution called Smith's alleged.

actions illprepared and extremely. selfish, arguing that he ignored every. warning and plea to turn back. Now, why. are we talking about this again? For the. first time since that shocking. information was released, that's the. charging document in the state. Micah. Smith has appeared before a judge and. this hearing was a critical first step. where the court would decide a. fundamental question. Should he wait for. trial in jail or could he be released? Right? Question of bail bond. Now, we.

have the footage from inside that. courtroom where the arguments were made. And we're going to get to that because. the prosecutor was asked directly about. the possibility of letting Smith out. Here's a sampling of what he said. >> Mr. Ross, what is the state's position. on a request for a pre-trial supervised. release? >> That's a hard no, your honor. >> And we were there for the judge's. decision, and we are going to take you. inside that crucial first hearing. But. first, we got to rewind, get everyone up. to speed on exactly how this case. unfolded, from the first steps on the. trail to the shocking charges. Story.

starts in Utah on the fall. On Friday, October 11th, 31-year-old father Micah. Smith decided to take his three young. children, his eight-year-old daughter, four-year-old son, two-year-old son, all. on a hike. In and of itself, maybe not. unusual. The problem was the hike that. he chose was he apparently picked the. Broads Fork Trail in Big Cottonwood. Canyon. This is a challenging, steep. hike with rugged terrain. It's not. recommended for beginners or children. They left around 9:00 a.m. Smith later. admitted that he didn't check the.

weather. He was unfamiliar with the. trail. Apparently brought snacks and. socks and shoes, not survival gear. And. as they climbed, the kids struggled. His. daughter later told police that she was. tired and scared. According to her, when. clouds rolled in, and she suggested. turning back, her father shook his head. and told her, "No, that's an. allegation." The storm comes in, snow, hail, rain. Smith was texting his wife, the children's mother, telling her of. the conditions, to which she responded. that he needed to bring the kids home.

Instead, apparently, they pressed on. Trapped near the summit in freezing. conditions, Smith later said that they. tried to shelter under a rock and he. described just a horrific night. His. 2-year-old fell, hit his head, stopped. breathing. His four-year-old became. quote very, very cold. Had difficulty. breathing, too. Smith claimed that he. had to perform CPR on both children. repeatedly. And then came one of the. most chilling allegations.

that Smith reportedly taught his. 8-year-old daughter how to do CPR and. then quote gave her instructions to do. CPR on her brother while he was gone. Yeah. That he allegedly left. allegedly. left his three children suffering. freezing children alone on the mountain. and went down the trail by himself. Next. morning, October 12th, they were. reported missing. Search and rescue. found Smith on the trail. They noted he.

behaved oddly. We'll talk about that. Helicopter crew found the children. The. four-year-old was mostly exposed, unconscious, appeared lifeless with no. pulse. The 2-year-old was underneath. him. It's a terrible situation. Thankfully, they all survived. The. four-year-old's condition was dire, though. In route to the hospital, he was. pulseless, requiring 25 minutes of CPR. His body temperature was 62.6 degrees. Fahrenheit, suffered a stroke, required. a portion of his skull removed, was. placed on life support. Now, to be. clear, this turned out to be, according.

to authorities, not just a case of bad. parenting or bad judgment. They allege. that this was a crime, that this turned. into a criminal investigation. And the. and the evidence investigators gathered. was damning. For example, on Smith's. phone, they apparently found a video. And in it, you can seemingly hear his. daughter's voice, seemingly filled with. fear, asking, "Are we going to freeze to. death, Daddy?" Smith's apparent. response, "We're almost to the top.". Real quick before we move on to this, I.

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to get 10 free meals plus free breakfast. for life. November 26, Salt Lake County. District Attorney Sam Gil announced the. charges. Six firstdegree felonies. Three. counts of child torture, three counts of. aggravated child abuse. >> As you are aware, our office uh filed a. charge of multiple charges against one. Mika Smith. uh uh multiple counts of. child tor to torture as well as multiple. counts of aggravated child abuse. The. search and rescue teams were uh.

contacted and it pertained to the. defendant with three children uh the. ages of 2, four and 8 years of age. They. encount encountered children in. different uh stages of harm uh including. two of the younger children uh uh who. had fallen down and taken some head. trauma including one who had stopped. breathing. This is not an easy hike. This is a one that even as uh trained.

professionals they suffered injury. trying to uh respond to it. 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. This is about the emotional and. psychological harm that can be caused.

Now, an arrest warrant was issued with. no bail. The prosecution's motion called. Smith ill-prepared, extremely selfish, alleging he chose to summit a mountain. over the safety of the kids. They also. pointed to prior alarming behavior, including a mental health incident with. weapons a month before, and that Smith. was later trespassed from the hospital. for allegedly tampering with his son's. equipment. Bizarre accusation to say the. least. We'll get to that, too. But that. brings us to the new development. Okay, so for the first time since that day on. the mountain, Micah Smith faced a judge.

And this initial hearing had one job. Decide if he would be released or stay. in jail. Now, we were inside that. courtroom for the virtual hearing. Take. a listen. >> Hey, your honor, I was wondering if you. might consider a pre-release. >> Uh, let's see. Mr. Ross, what is the. state's position on a request for a. pre-trial supervised release? >> That's a hard no, your honor. uh haven't. had an opportunity to uh bring the. victim to weigh in on this and I direct.

the court to the declaration of probable. cause. There's a significant safety risk. and a no bail warrant is absolutely. appropriate. >> Okay, Mr. Smith, I did have a chance to. read through the charging document um. before the hearing today. I read it when. it was first filed and then I reminded. myself of its contents this morning. There is substantial evidence to support. the charge in this the charges in this. case, Mr. Smith. And I do find by a. clear and convincing standard that you. would be a danger to the alleged victims. if you were released today. Now, that's.

not a permanent decision, Mr. Smith. It's a temporary one, and it can be. reviewed as soon as your next hearing in. front of Judge Ruby Mills. But, sir, you. will remain in custody until that. detention hearing and until Judge Ruby. Mills decides to release you. Your court. date with her for that detention hearing. will be. >> December 8th. >> December 8th at 9:00 am. So that's next. Monday. Mr. Smith, that gives you a. limited window of time in which to talk. to your attorney. So my strong. suggestion for you is that you reach out.

to them uh starting tomorrow afternoon. Get a hold of the lawyer who's been. assigned to your case so they can go. through the facts of the case with you. and answer your questions. >> Okay. >> Mr. Smith, do you have any uh questions. about anything we've talked about here. today? But before you do that, I will. caution you. Do you not tell me anything. about the facts of the case? What did or. did not happen on the day in question? >> Yes, your honor. Is there anything that. I can do to. help show that I'm not a danger or. threat?

>> Okay. Well, Mr. Smith, that's an. excellent discussion for you to have. with your lawyer. Um, at at this stage. of the proceedings, there's not anything. uh further for us to decide. I've made. my decisions in the case today, but like. I said, you will have the chance to. review those decisions in front of Judge. Ruby Mills and your lawyer can help you. do that. So, keep in contact with them. Make sure you follow their advice and. give them all the information they need. >> Okay. >> Okay. Then, in that case, Mr. Smith, you're good to step back. I wish you. good luck. >> Thank you, your honor.

>> You're welcome, sir. So, what evidence. was that compelling that it led a judge. to immediately deem this father a danger. to his own children and that he couldn't. be let out right now? What had. investigators uncovered after the rescue. that resulted in those felony charges? Let's go back and follow the. investigation as it's laid out in court. documents step by step. Okay, we have. obtained the declaration of probable. cause in this case, the detective sworn. statement of the facts. It builds the. timeline of that day primarily from two. sources. the account of the 8-year-old.

daughter identified as EAS and the. statements of the defendant, Micah. Smith, himself. It's their words that. form the core of this narrative. We're. going to start with the foundation. So, the document establishes that on October. 11th, Smith took his three young. children, ES 2 years old, EZ four years. old, and EAS 8 years old, on the Broads. Fork Trail. a hike investigators later. noted was quote nearly 9 miles rated. hard and not recommended for beginner. hikers or children. Now, let's hear from.

the primary child witness, the. 8-year-old daughter, EAS. Her interview. provides the emotional core of the. state's timeline. And by the way, while. you can always question any witness's. credibility and recollection of events, the thing to think about here, the. apparent injuries, the state of these. children, the condition of these. children, the video I mentioned before, doesn't it necessarily corroborate what. she's about to say. According to the. declaration, 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 9-hour hike, but. wasn't sure which. 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-in-a-lifetime thing. The. document continues with her account. EAS. said she again expressed to Smith that. they should really go and said 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. Now, this. establishes the first critical element, right? Expressed fear, a direct plea to. turn back, which was refused. And why. that is important if these allegations. are true, the aggravated child abuse. charges require that Smith intentionally. or knowingly inflicted serious physical. injury on his kids. The same thing with. child torture. Intentionally or. knowingly. So, we're going to get to. that a little bit, but the declaration.

then details the horrific night from her. perspective. She described it as a quote. really hard night, that she was freezing. cold. She said her teeth were. chattering, her clothes were wet, and. crucially, she states, quote, EAS stated. that one of her brothers had. hypothermia, and she ran to her brother. with hypothermia and hugged him tight to. try and make him a little warmer, and. she had to breathe into his mouth and. push on his chest. And then there's this. devastating line. EAS said Smith taught.

her CPR and how to push on EZS's chest. Can you imagine that? So from the. child's perspective, we have allegations. of fear dismiss, survival conditions, being instructed to perform medical. intervention on her sibling. And then. you layer in Micah Smith's own reported. account to police, okay, which is. documented across multiple pages. His. version confirms the lack of preparation. and the severity of the crisis, but also. contains seemingly shocking admissions. First, unplanning. He allegedly.

admitted, quote, he did not check the. trail reports or the weather prior to. heading out for the hike. He called the. hike spontaneous and not well planned. He described breaching near the summit. around 6 p.m. as the weather turned. He. said they tried to descend but only made. it quote 600 feet down before seeking. shelter around 800 p.m. He claimed he. built a makeshift shelter, removed the. children's wet clothes and tried to keep. them warm. Then his account of the. medical emergencies begins. He said his. 2-year-old es fell and hit his head.

quote appeared dazed and later in the. shelter became quote unconscious and. stopped breathing. Smith said he. performed CPR. He then described his. four-year-old EZS becoming very very. cold, was not warming up, had difficulty. breathing. His description is graphic. Quote, Smith said he could hear EZS's. heartbeat and performed CPR doing chest. compressions and rescue breaths. Smith. said that EZS had fluid in his lungs and. it was coming out of his nose and foam. was coming out of his mouth. Smith. estimated that he did CPR on EZS for.

quote a large portion of the night about. every 5 minutes. And this brings us to. the single most critical admission or. alleged admission from Smith's own. mouth. A quote that forms the. centerpiece of the alleged abandonment. The declaration states, 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. So, to be clear. on the scene, okay, to be clear on this, he allegedly left a 2-year-old who had.

been unconscious, a four-year-old in. respiratory distress, foaming at the. mouth, uh 8-year-old girl he just. apparently instructed to continue chest. compressions, and he walks away. Now, the declaration then shifts to the. objective evidence from the rescuers and. medical professionals, which. corroborates the severity or seemingly. does. When search and rescue first found. Smith on the trail, they quote noted. that Smith was behaving oddly and did. not appear to be concerned about the. children. Then this apparent jarring. statement, quote, Smith also told S.

members that one of his children was. dead. Now, when the helicopter team. located the children, here's what they. saw as quoted. They noted that the. children were not wearing much clothing, stating that ES was under EZ and EZS was. mostly exposed, unconscious, and. appeared lifeless. Deputy Franchow. attempted to find a pulse on EZS and. detected no pulse and the medical. records are awful for EZS. In route. pulseless, CPR for approximately 25.

minutes, intubated. Upon arrival, core. body temperature was 17° C, 62°. F. Later, quote, suffered a stroke which. required a portion of his skull to be. removed and an external ventricular. drain to be placed. Now, finally, the. declaration introduces the digital. evidence. This is big because it. seemingly seals the timeline and. allegedly confirms the daughter's. account of the fear that she expressed. So, from a search of Smith's phone, a.

video from the hike apparently shows EAS. asking, "Are we going to freeze to. death, Daddy?" And Smith apparently. responding, "We're almost to the top.". By the way, digital evidence, the text. messages with his wife, SS. So, this. apparently provides a realtime log of. her escalating warnings. Things like, "You better leave. It's going to get. dark, child endangerment, not cool. Get. them home. Please." That according to. the evidence and according to. authorities went unheated. I mean, by.

the way, he even allegedly texted this. quote, "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. Now, I want to move from. the case to the information, the. charging document here where the state. translates those harrowing facts into. specific severe criminal charges. Okay. The document charges Micah Smith with.

six felonies here. Okay? They are paired. one count of child torture and one count. of aggravated child abuse for each of. his three children. So, let's break down. what those charges legally mean. first. count one child torture regarding the. 8-year-old daughter EAS. The charging. language here is critical because it. alleges that on or about October 11th. through the 12th, Smith quote did. intentionally or knowingly inflict upon. a child a serious injury that was. inflicted in an exceptionally cruel or. exceptionally depraved manner that. caused the child to experience extreme. physical or psychological pain or.

anguish. Or there's a second option, B. A serious injury or more than one. serious injury as part of a course of. conduct or over a prolonged period of. time. Let's isolate this. Okay, intentionally or knowingly. This goes. beyond negligence. Okay, this is. deliberate. That's what they're saying. Deliberately knowing what you're doing. here. Exceptionally cruel or. exceptionally depraved manner. That. speaks to the method. Now, the. prosecution will most likely argue that. forcing a terrified child to continue a.

hike into a dangerous storm, dismissing. her please, making her witness and. participate in her siblings medical. crisis meets that legal standard. Extreme psychological pain or anguish. This directly ties to her stated fear, all the trauma of that night. Course of. conduct over a prolonged period. So, this could frame the entire ordeal, not. a single moment. Although I'm sure. defense attorneys could say, you know, it's not a prolonged period over days or. weeks. That's what the statute meant. There's some argument there. I don't.

know if that's going to be winning. Count two for EAS, aggravated child. abuse. It alleges that Smith quote. intentionally or knowingly inflicts upon. a child serious physical injury. Now, this count likely covers allegedly. deliberately putting his daughter into. this environment where she would suffer. hypothermia, exhaustion, the condition. she endured. And if you look at counts. three and four for the four-year-old. son, EZ, the language is identical. Count three, child torture. Count four, aggravated child abuse. The serious. injury, though, it's not just. psychological. It's the physical reality.

of a body temperature of 62 degrees, the. stroke, the skull removal, the prolonged. period of time, arguably includes the. hours of alleged CPR, suffering in the. shelter, counts five and six for the. 2-year-old, es mirror this again, child. torture, aggravated child abuse. But. this all brings us to the critical. moment that triggered our update. The. motion for pre-trial detention. This is. the prosecution's argument for why Micah. Smith should be held without bail. And. this motion is the direct link between. the paper case and the hard no that we.

heard in the courtroom. So the motion. opens with a powerful summarizing hook. that sets the tone. 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. It. then distills the core failures from the. probable cause statement. Quote, "The. defendant refused to turn around when. their mom told them to turn around and. get the children home." He also refused. to turn around when EAS said to him that. she was scared and that they should go. The defendant, who was supposed to be.

the protector of his children, was. illprepared and extremely selfish. But. then the motion goes further. So to. demonstrate that this wasn't an isolated. lapse in judgment, but part of a clearly. spiraling pattern, prosecutors. introduced two explosive pieces of. contextual evidence that is not directly. part of the hike, but are important. here. First, they reveal a prior. incident. Quote, "Approximately one. month before this incident, the. defendant expressed ideiations and was. located by the Cottonwood Heights Police.

Department with multiple firearms. attempting to locate a mountain. He. reported to the officer that he was. going through a really hard time and was. going to hike up to the top of the. mountain. He had apparently two firearms. and ax in his vehicle at the time. Now, the second thing they allege is. disturbing conduct after the rescue. while his four-year-old son was fighting. for his life in the hospital. Quote, on. November 10th, 2025, the defendant was. trespassed from Primary Children's. Hospital for interfering with EZS's care. and tampering with the equipment. Wild.

development, wild accusation. Now, the. motion weaves this all together into its. central argument for no bail. The. defendant's behavior is clearly. spiraling, and he's not only a danger to. himself, but he is a danger to these. victims. The defendant's intentional and. selfish act left his children in grave. danger with one of them dying and being. revived multiple times and will never. fully recover. So, this was the full. package presented to the court. the. horrific events of the hike charged as. intentional torture abuse framed by.

prior mental health and weapons concerns. and followed by alleged interference. with life-saving care. And that is what. brings us back to the story today. The. motion for pre-trial detention, the. request for a no bail warrant led. directly to the hearing that we covered. at the top of this. The judge had this. entire narrative, the facts, the. charges, the alarming pattern on the. bench when Micah Smith asked for. release. So Micah Smith now remains in. the Salt Lake County Jail. He's held. without bond. He's scheduled to be back. in court on Monday, December 8th. And we. will, of course, be following every.

development. 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 [music] on. YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. You can. follow me on [music] X or Instagram. I'm. Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next. time.