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Prosecutors Drop Some Charges Against Ex-Utah AG

Prosecutors wrapped up their part of John Swallow's public-corruption trial Thursday, but not before dropping three of the 13 charges the former Utah attorney general faced.

Prosecutors wrapped up their part of John Swallow's public-corruption trial Thursday, but not before dropping three of the 13 charges the former Utah attorney general faced.

 

The three felony counts eliminated were allegations of receiving or soliciting a bribe, money laundering and evidence tampering.

 

"Trials are fluid," Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill told The Salt Lake Tribune. "Sometimes, as the evidence or situation changes, so does what we can prosecute, and it's our obligation to do the right thing and make that correction to reflect the evidence."

 

The dismissals, which 3rd District Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills accepted, were not necessarily unexpected.

 

 

The three counts are tied partly to Jeremy Johnson, the imprisoned St. George businessman who repeatedly refused to testify, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

 

Johnson was convicted last year of federal charges for lying to a bank and is serving an 11-year prison term in California. Starting on Feb. 15, he took the witness stand and said that, on the advice of his attorneys, he wouldn't answer questions without an ironclad immunity agreement from the U.S. Justice Department.

 

That assurance never came, and Johnson was ordered to serve a 30-day jail term for contempt.

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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