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SALT LAKE CITY — How or whether a judge's refusal Thursday to advance the criminal case against former West Valley police officer Shaun Cowley plays into the race for Salt Lake County district attorney remains to be seen.
First-term Democratic incumbent Sim Gill is engaged in a battle with Republican Steve Nelson, a prosecutor in the district attorney's office. The Nov. 4 election is less than a month away.
Although Gill has been in the news a lot with some high-profile prosecutions, voters don't seem to have tuned into the campaign so far.
"It will get some attention from people who have been critical either of Gill in that particular case or more broadly," University of Utah political science professor Matthew Burbank said of the court decision.
"But will it have a big impact on people on Election Day? Probably not. Unless there's a lot more to this story, I doubt it's going to have a big effect on the election."
Nelson said 3rd District Judge L.A. Dever's decision to dismiss criminal manslaughter charges against Cowley in the 2012 shooting death of Danielle Willard highlights what he's saying in the campaign.
"There's a lot of danger in trying cases in the press. When politicians are trying to promote themselves on cases that they file that have not been adjudicated yet and have not been in front of judges or juries, problems can happen," he said.
If other people want to politicize it or make an issue out of it, that's fine. But running this office is a much broader obligation and greater responsibility than just going to the courtroom.
–Sim Gill, Salt Lake County District Attorney
It's "highly, highly unusual" for a judge to not bind over a case after a preliminary hearing, Nelson said. It also points to the need for an experienced prosecutor heading the district attorney's office, he said.
Gill said Dever's decision will "absolutely not" impact the race. The case was just part of the office's normal work, he said, adding it has reviewed at least 44 officer-involved shootings in Salt Lake County the past three years.
"If other people want to politicize it or make an issue out of it, that's fine. But running this office is a much broader obligation and greater responsibility than just going to the courtroom," he said.
Gill said he didn't try the case in the press, but shared information with the public on an issue of great concern and urgency. The shooting was not an isolated case but related to a host of problems in the West Valley Police Department, he said.
"I don't think being objective, open and transparent with our community is trying something in the press," he said.
