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SALT LAKE CITY — Former Utah Attorney General John Swallow, who is fighting more than a dozen felony public corruption charges, decided Wednesday to waive a week-long preliminary hearing that was scheduled to begin next week.
The case is now moving toward a jury trial.
Swallow, 52, will plead not guilty to the charges at an arraignment on July 20, attorney Steve McCaughey confirmed Wednesday. With the amount of evidence in the case, it appeared likely that the case would have been sent to trial anyway had the preliminary hearing been held, he said.
"We're just ready to go ahead and present our side, the evidence, to a jury," McCaughey told KSL News. "The key thing here is that, with such a low burden of proof required to bind cases over to trial, there was no reason to let the state put their evidence on and give them sort of a preview of everything."
The five-day preliminary hearing would have provided the first look at two years of investigation by the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office and the Davis County Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors had lined up 33 witnesses to testify against the one-time Republican officeholder who resigned under a cloud of suspicion in December 2013. Witnesses in the case include indicted businessman Jeremy Johnson, imprisoned businessman Marc Sessions Jenson and former Swallow campaign workers and office staffers.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said Wednesday he is pleased to see the legal process moving forward.
With a new money laundering charge filed last month, Swallow now faces 13 second- and third-degree felony counts of pattern of unlawful activity, accepting gifts, bribery, money laundering, making false statements, tampering with evidence, misuse of public money and obstruction of justice. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of falsifying government records.
Swallow's predecessor, former Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, is facing his own charges stemming from corruption allegations. Shurtleff faces nine felony counts, including bribery, illegally accepting gifts, improper use of employee position and obstructing justice. A five-day preliminary hearing in his case is slated to start June 15.
Though initially jointly charged, a 3rd District judge separated the cases after defense attorneys objected.
Since their arrest last July, Swallow and Shurtleff have maintained their innocence and say the charges against them are politically motivated.
Swallow facing new money laundering charge
State prosecutors leveled a new money laundering charge against former Utah Attorney General John Swallow on Wednesday, a little more than two weeks before a judge will decide whether he will stand trial.In a preliminary hearing, prosecutors present enough evidence to convince a judge that "probable cause" exists to show that the crimes occurred and were likely committed by the defendant. If a judge agrees, he orders the defendant to stand trial on the charges. Although defense attorneys can present evidence during such hearings, they seldom do.
The allegations against Swallow and Shurtleff accuse the former attorneys general both separately and together of soliciting campaign contributions and enjoying lavish gifts in exchange for favorable treatment by the state's top law enforcement office.
Prosecutors allege Swallow illegally used houseboats owned by two businessmen — Johnson and Jared Pierce, the principal in a company that had been investigated the year before — who contributed to his and Shurtleff's election campaigns and whose companies faced state regulatory investigations. He is also accused of jetting around in a private plane borrowed from Johnson.
A federal grand jury indicted Johnson and four associates in an 86-count fraud complaint in connection with his online company, iWorks. A trial is scheduled to start in September.
Marc Jenson, a one-time wealthy businessman now serving a 10-year prison sentence after failing to pay restitution on a fraud conviction, claims Swallow and Shurtleff shook him down for money and favors during all-expenses-paid visits to the posh Pelican Hill Resort near Newport Beach, California.
The attorney general's office — at Shurtleff's behest — reached a plea-in-abeyance agreement with Jenson in 2008 that included a fine but no jail time for selling unregulated securities. A 3rd District judge rejected what the report calls a "sweetheart deal" as too lenient.
The judge accepted a second plea agreement that also allowed Jenson to avoid jail but imposed the $4.1 million in restitution that Jenson later failed to pay.
Swallow has faced scrutiny since January 2013 when allegations of wrongdoing surfaced, just days after he took office. He resigned from the position within a year.
Investigators say they have found data missing from every electronic device Swallow had since he first joined the attorney general's office as chief deputy in December 2009.
Swallow faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
Contributing: Dennis Romboy
