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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Lawyers for former Utah Attorney General John Swallow will ask the state supreme court to toss the bribery case against him because authorities obtained thousands of private communications between him and his previous attorney.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/2bWssxO) that defense attorneys on Thursday appealed a ruling denying the motion to dismiss because prosecutors didn't read the privileged communications mistakenly included as evidence.
But Swallow's lawyers say the blunder violated his rights, and the high court should examine the case because it's the first of its kind.
Swallow has pleaded not guilty to 13 charges of bribery, evidence tampering and other crimes.
Swallow and his predecessor Mark Shurtleff both faced pay-to-play charges after prosecutors said they accepted money and gifts from businessmen in trouble with regulators, but the case against Shurtleff was dismissed last month.
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