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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Supreme Court will now decide whether to weigh in on the criminal case against former Attorney General John Swallow.
The Utah Court of Appeals on Friday transferred to the state's high court Swallow's petition seeking a dismissal of the public corruption charges he faces. The transfer doesn't mean the court will take up the petition but that the five-judge panel will consider hearing it.
Swallow's lawyers asked the Utah Court of Appeals to reverse a 3rd District judge's decision and dismiss the charges against him. They also asked that the petition be moved to the Utah Supreme Court, contending prosecutors intruding into a defendant's attorney-client relationship is a new legal issue in Utah.
Third District Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills ruled in August that prosecutors' accessing about 12,000 electronic images containing communications between Swallow and his one-time defense attorney did not violate his constitutional rights. She denied Swallow's motion to dismiss the charges, finding that prosecutors did not purposefully get into or read the emails.
State attorneys argue prosecutors and investigators didn't read the emails and that allowing an appeal now would "short-circuit" the trial process and prolong the already more than 2-year-old case. They say the case should go to trial before any appeals are considered.
But state attorneys agree that should there be a review, the Utah Supreme Court is the right forum because of the sparse amount of Utah case law on the issue.
Swallow is charged with 11 felonies and two misdemeanors, including racketeering, bribery, evidence tampering, misuse of public money and falsifying government records. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
A trial is scheduled to start next February.