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SALT LAKE CITY — Former Attorney General John Swallow told reporters Friday that he assumes there will be a trial in the criminal case against him but said, "You never know."
"I'm really not supposed to talk about that," he said after a hearing in 3rd District Court. "I really trust my counsel and I think that he was very clear in what he said to the court today, which is really important to us. And we'll finally get our day to tell our side of the story."
Whether that comes inside or outside a courtroom remains to be seen.
Swallow's lawyers, Scott Williams and Brad Anderson, argued that there are constitutional problems with the felony public corruption case against the former Republican officeholder and all of the charges should be thrown out.
"Mr. Swallow can't get a fair trial," Williams said.
Prosecutors countered Williams' arguments to dismiss the case and continue to push for the trial scheduled to start Feb. 7.
Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills intends to issue a written ruling on the defense motions to dismiss all or some of the charges, likely before the next hearing on Jan. 6. She asked few questions and gave no indication of where she is leaning.
Swallow faces a dozen felony and misdemeanor counts, including bribery, falsifying government records, misuse of public money and obstruction of justice. He has pleaded not guilty.
At the hearing, Anderson said the lieutenant governor's officer threatened Swallow's job if he didn't submit to an interview during a 2013 investigation into alleged election law violations. Because of that, he argued, prosecutors should not be able to use the deposition against him in the criminal case.
"The message to him was clear: You need to be here to clear yourself or we're going to start proceedings to remove you from office," Anderson said.
Assistant Salt Lake County district attorney Chou Chou Collins said Swallow was not threatened. He answered the questions he wanted to answer and did invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Also, she said the lieutenant governor's office told Swallow the investigation would go with or without him.
"They were not going to drag him in to do the deposition," Collins said.
Williams also contends prosecutors lost, destroyed or are hiding a taped interview investigators conducted with a key witness, imprisoned St. George businessman Jeremy Johnson. He said it would show Johnson's answer were coached to fit investigators' narrative and that he was promised it wouldn't be used against him in his federal cases.
That the tape has gone missing is "hugely mysterious."
Collins said there's not exculpatory evidence in the recording and minimal, if any, prejudicial information.
"With all the vague statements Jeremy Johnson made, we don't know what he's talking about," she said.
Collins said both sides would have the chance to question Johnson on the witness stand during the trial.
Williams also continues to push for prosecutors to get and turn over Department of Justice investigative reports that resulted in no public corruption charges against Swallow in 2013. He also said the DOJ is making him jump through hoops to get testimony from FBI agents who worked on the case.
"The federal government wouldn't bring charges because the evidence didn't warrant it and they have convinced the state to bring them and now the federal government is shielding the witnesses from the availability of the defense. That's a fundamental breach of due process," he said.
Collins said the state has turned over all the evidence it has obtained. "We can't produce something we don't have," she said.
Prosecutors in the parallel case against former Attorney General Mark Shurtleff dropped the charges earlier this year, partly because they couldn't get the same information Williams is seeking.
DOJ attorney Tim Jafek told the judge he would would work with Williams to get the witnesses he's after.
