Utah Supreme Court hears arguments on letter in Allgier case

SALT LAKE CITY — A letter from a Salt Lake County Jail inmate to a judge regarding the capital murder case of Curtis Allgier has again come under debate, this time before the state's highest court.

The "Cobb Letter" from an inmate whose last name is Cobb, had been the subject of an extended court battle between news organizations, Allgier's defense team and prosecutors. In 2009, 3rd District Judge Sheila McCleve decided the letter was a public record, which could be unsealed and released.

But attorneys for Allgier, 31, who is charged with killing corrections officer Stephen Anderson with his own gun during an out-of-prison medical appointment in 2007, appealed the release to the Utah Supreme Court, which heard arguments on the issue Wednesday.

Marshall Bullen argued that the release of the letter could lead to an unfair trial and "saturation" of the jury due to extensive media reports on the case.

"The letter is totally unreliable, subject to sensationalization and inflammatory," he said.

While judges receive letters from inmates all the time, he said they're not usually from third parties. He also argued that the letter isn't relevant to the case.

"It becomes part of the judicial record if the document has some value in the adjudicative process," he said.

But multiple justices said that most of the information in the letter is already in the public arena, especially in light of McCleve's order — which is public — that cites and quotes parts of the letter.

"I can't see anything of significance in (the letter) not referenced to in Judge McCleve's order," Justice Matthew Durrant said. "Why is this not moot?"

"Aren't we in a cat's out of the bag circumstance?," Chief Justice Christine Durham asked, prompting Bullen to move that McCleve's order be sealed.

The order includes excerpts from the letter, including one in which Cobb asserts that Allgier "verbally admitted to me that he 'shot' and 'killed' a transportation officer whom worked at the Utah State Prison!" He wrote that Allgier claimed to have shot Anderson in the chest and stomach.

Cobb also said he is afraid of Allgier, "as he has made 'death threats' to me that if I said anything to anyone or ever told on him he would kill me and my mother!"

Jeff Hunt, who represented the Deseret News and other media, said he does not believe that releasing the letter would put Cobb's safety at risk, as Cobb's identity has been published almost since the letter was received and the information in the letter is part of the court file and should be available to the public.

Justice Thomas Lee reiterated that Cobb didn't seem worried, as he went so far as to write, notarize and send the letter.

"If you were worried, I don't think you'd sign the letter and send it out," Lee said.

Hunt also said the question of whether the jury would be prejudiced by what is in the letter has been negated by all of the potentially incriminating evidence that has already come out in court proceedings.

"We have time-tested tools available to the trial court to ferret out pre-trial exposure," he added, citing jury instructions and questionnaires used when selecting a jury. Durham said there are enough potential jurors in Salt Lake County to make it possible to find a suitable jury.

Hunt was adamant that the public has the right to see the letter, arguing that "pre-trial proceedings are significant and the public has an interest in monitoring them."

Justice Ronald Nehring said McCleve had the right to be the one to make the decision about the letter. "It strikes me that the recipient of the letter can conclusively determine its fate with respect to the issues we're dealing with today," he said.

These events all stem from a letter that 3rd District Judge Robin Reese received on June 17, 2008 from a jail inmate. Since the letter contained information about Allgier's alleged crime, Reese forwarded it to 3rd District Judge Deno Himonas, who was handling some of the early hearings in Allgier's case. That judge temporarily sealed the letter until disputes about whether it should be made public were resolved.

Himonas provided copies to prosecutors and also to Allgier's defense team, which argued that this letter could jeopardize Allgier's right to a fair trial.

Anderson, 60, was escorting Allgier from prison to a medical clinic on June 25, 2007. After completion of an MRI, prosecutors say the inmate wrested a gun from Anderson during a struggle. Anderson was shot in the head and chest, court documents state. Allgier then fled the clinic, carjacked a vehicle, led police on a high-speed chase and was eventually captured at a fast-food restaurant, police say.

The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office has said it will seek the death penalty if Allgier is convicted.

Email:emorgan@ksl.com

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