Law&Crime Sidebar - 'Spiraling' Dad Left Kids in Snow During 'Hike from Hell': Indictment

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

A Utah father who was stranded on a mountainside with his three young children during a storm is now facing child torture and aggravated child abuse charges. The indictment reveals shocking evidence, including a video where his 8-year-old daughter asks, "Are we going to freeze to death, daddy?" Micah Smith, is accused of ignoring warnings, being ill-prepared, and abandoning his children before rescuers arrived. Utah criminal defense attorney Skye Lazaro joins Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber to break down the horrifying details and legal implications of the "hike from hell."PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Join CROWDHEALTH and say goodbye to insurance headaches. Use code SIDEBAR to get your first 3 months for only $99/month at https://joincrowdhealth.com  HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A fundraiser brought in more than $60,000 for a Utah father who'd gotten stranded on a mountainside with his three young children during a bad storm. But that GoFundMe page is now gone, and that dad is facing child torture charges. After investigators alleged, they discovered he intentionally put his child. 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 trained

professionals, they suffered injury trying to respond to it. You will not believe the horror these kids went through. The disturbing details are all laid out in a brand new indictment and we are taking you through it all right now. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. All right, I've 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 of health insurance. It is chaos. It really is. Well, here's the good news.

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at join CrowdHealth.com. CrowdHealth, it's not insurance, 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 and 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 two-year-old, a four-year-old, and his eight-year-old daughter. Just remember those ages, two-four-eight. 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 in 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 the children were afraid to do as the storms came in, that the defendant, and pressed them on into changing conditions, whereby exposing them to the potential harm, which was 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, but as was indicated by the older child that she had to try to do CPR to try to save her brother, and to also to continue to go through that experience where she communicated fear and concerned, 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 felony accounts being fired, filed, excuse me, and again, let me underscore that 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 in 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 ill-prepared and extremely selfish. So to talk about the details from this indictment, I want to welcome back on Utah Criminal Defense Attorney Sky Lazzaro. 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. For people who don't know, what is this like? How, you know, steep is it? How dangerous is it? How tough is it? not only for adults, you're talking little kids here. Yeah, we're talking about a two and a four-year-old and where this trail is located is actually up where Brighton ski resort is for people who ski or have been to Utah to ski.

So we're talking about, you know, essentially going up the Wasatch Front and, you know, at the top of that is where a ski mountain is. So this is really rocky terrain. It's very steep in places. There are some heights. that are a little bit more kid-friendly or friendlier for people who 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. Sometimes you'll see people with kids in backpacks, 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 gotten some national attention, thinking of Ruby, Frankie, and cases. like that. There's also been a change to our child abuse laws because of those types of cases for cases where it's been prolonged 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 physical beatings or withholding food, things like that, that teachers maybe have noticed.

and turn people in for. This is probably one of the few cases where I've seen it being charged in a case like this where, you know, they were out on a hike. Was it a good decision? No. Should you have taken a child up there? But I haven't seen a child abuse case charged in a case similar to this. I want to dig into this indictment 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 eight-year-old girl. EZS is the four-year-old boy, and E.S. is the two-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 U.S. Forest Service saying it has extensive rock faces and rugged terrain and climbed 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. Certainly, the evidence showed that this was, first of all,

hike this is not recommended for children it is not a hike that is not recommended for inexperienced people going on this is a hike that led to a at a certain point there are no more trails and and as they 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 on to 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 Caas statement, that experienced hikers from search and 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 different 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 set 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 SAR team 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 SIR team, Deputy Francho 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 degrees 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, 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 or when you look at those injuries and you think about the father taking him to that location he is he's at you know we say it on 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 a 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 mens rea, given him this guy, the benefit of every doubt that he didn't mean for any of this to happen. And 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. Now, in defending that case, maybe he's not from, you know, is he from Utah? Does he know, you know, the problem is yes in this case. And so when you look at these injuries, these are very severe injuries. and 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 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 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 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, 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 maybe. Well, I was going to ask you. I mean, 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 like to support those. I think if they thought

they had those that they would have probably charge them. early on. Now, that doesn't mean as the investigation unfolds, and maybe they don't learn more is they, I know we have some text messages, but if they get more into his phone 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. 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'd been out there as well. And so he wasn't in his right frame or mind at the time he was speaking. You know, I think defenses are tough until you can look at everything and kind of get your mind wrapped around what's out there. So let me get into why that's going to be really difficult for him.

So EAS, this eight-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 nine-mile hike and a nine-hour 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 two miles from the top, and they had to climb rocks and grab onto bushes. EAS said near the top, the cloud 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. 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 EZS warm, and Smith had to keep ES warm. EAS described that their teeth were chattering and their clothes were wet. Now, Sky, it's one thing to say, you know, how do you interview a child victim, how to investigators or interviewers, determine 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 their father, they're backed up by the injuries, no? I would say yes. And listening to that story, it doesn't sound like she's embellishing a lot. I mean, it sounds pretty matter of fact in terms of what it's like up there, having been on that trail, that is a very difficult.

trail. 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 a lot of things here. And then spending overnight up there, it's cold. You know, and you get up high, it's really cold. And there's not a lot of shelter up there. And saying, you know, tough parenting. I wanted them new experiences. not going to work as a defense. I mean, is the issue going to have to testify against their father in open court if this goes to trial or 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, 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 because nobody wants to put a 10-year-old on the stand to testify against her own father. No, no. 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 a.m. They stopped at a store to get new shoes and socks to hike in, and they got to the trailhead at around 10 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 eight hours on a trail, rated as difficult with a two-year-old, four-year-old, and eight-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 feet down before he decided they should find shelter and estimated it was 8 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 when you know you have to come back down 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 maybe have it looked and seen what the weather. that in southern Utah 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 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. Yeah, it needs to be intentionally and knowingly. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 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 two-year-old, fell and hit his head and appeared. dazed, and EZS was in a bad way. Smith said EZS was very cold, had difficulty breathing during the night. He told the deputies he performed CPR on EZS multiple times. And remember, this is

the four-year-old, the one who was life-flighted 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 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. I mean, maybe, maybe he did it where he was.

that's fine. But a lot of those hikes, your phone will work pretty well. So the leaving is really like what separates this case from a sheer tragedy. And I'll get into more of 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 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, especially, I mean, we're talking about a two, I mean, the 10-year-old is a problem, the four-year-old's a problem, but we're also talking about, I believe, wasn't one of them, too? Yeah, you know, you're talking about you. You're leaving a two-year-old unsupervised. Yeah.

With a four-year-old who's injured and a 10-year-old who's trying to do CPR. I mean, 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 EZS for a large portion of the night about every five 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 EZS, EAS, NES 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, 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 EAS, EAS, and EAS on,

was nearly nine 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 thunderstorm, 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 other video, Smith told the children that the path they would take was not the normal one and that they were taking the path less 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 listen to this evidence, and I think to myself, if this comes in, you got to work on a plea deal of your defense attorney, because I don't know how you fight back against something like this. I agree with you. I mean, 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. Even that being said, I think there, 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, along with the injuries for the children, which are coming in, and any testimony from the kids, which is coming in, 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 nine-mile hike that they shouldn't have been on to begin with, and then I took them off the trail. And then instead of carrying them out when they got hurt, I left them. And, you know, you've got problems. I think you better 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 517 p.m. In the photo, dark clouds and rain are visible in the distance. At 518 p.m. Smith responded, yes. EZS 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 526 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 dressing 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 EZS in the cloud surrounded by rocks and snow. EZ appears visibly cold. SS responded at 611 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, you know, the other question is maybe she should have. 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 for not interfering or calling law enforcement or reporting it or something else. But all that aside, 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 sent help to my location, 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. And as far as the wife, you know, 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, I'm going to trust if everything's okay. I mean, that could be the case, but I'll tell you this much. I'll tell you this much, okay? According to 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

ideations and was located by the Cottonwood Heights Police Department attempting to locate a mountain. He reported to the officer that he was going through a really hard time and was going to height 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 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 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. They 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 can see the prosecutors wanting to use this.

Now, it's not really 404B bad acts, but I can see it going to a state of mind 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 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 some mental health issues that will factor into this case, probably both for the prosecution and the defense. 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 going through a mental health episode. This wasn't intentionally and knowingly. He wasn't trying to injure the children. Should you have had them up there? No. But he needs help. So I could see this, I could see them trying to use this, you know, both sides. That's a good point. This is a good point.

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 equipment that's helping to keep him alive. Yeah, the indictment says on November 10, 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 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 the 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 on 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 groundswell 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, Mika 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 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 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. Sky Lazaro, thank you so much for taking the time. Really appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for happening. 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. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series, add free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.