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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A judge under fire for dressing down deer hunters has more problems: Prosecutors filed a complaint, saying she knocked 10 years off a sex offender's sentence without telling them.
When a sentence is ordered, "there is not a way for the judge to go back and change it" without notification, Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom said.
In February, 3rd District Judge Leslie Lewis sentenced James Scott to 30 years to life in prison by ordering three consecutive punishments for the sexual abuse of a 7-year-old girl.
During the hearing, Lewis argued with defense attorney Roger Kraft over Scott's past.
"There's nothing harder than trying to make a sex offender not look so bad in front of Judge Lewis," Kraft said. "But every argument I made, she argued with me, she interrupted me."
Kraft wrote a letter to the judge, complaining about how she treated him. He did not, however, ask her to reduce Scott's sentence.
During a subsequent phone call, Lewis said, "If I still have jurisdiction, I'm going to change that," according to Kraft.
"She said, 'I would appreciate it if you don't discuss this with the prosecutor.' She said it at least two, and maybe three times," Kraft told The Salt Lake Tribune.
Lewis cut the sentence to 20 years to life, saying she had "given additional thought" to the case, according to the court file.
The entry was dated Feb. 10, the day of the original sentence.
It "obviously didn't take place on that date," said Yocom, who has filed a complaint with the Judicial Conduct Commission, which polices the Utah judiciary.
Under Utah law, a sentence can be changed only by appeal or through a formal request to fix an error.
Kraft said he didn't learn about the new sentence until July 26, when he got a call from another attorney handling a possible appeal.
He said he reported the matter to prosecutor Patricia Parkinson.
"I don't think it's right what she did," Kraft said of the judge. "Here's a life's worth of work that looks like it's going down the drain."
Lewis declined to comment Tuesday, court spokeswoman Nancy Volmer said.
Separately, a Web site has been created urging Lewis' defeat in the Nov. 7 election. It directs visitors to a videotape and audiotape of her berating two men about deer hunting.
------ Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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