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SALT LAKE CITY — A judge will allow prosecutors to present hearsay evidence in former Utah Attorney General John Swallow's trial next month to show that he was part of a criminal conspiracy.
Third District Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills found that the state met is burden of proof to admit statements that Swallow, former Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and the late Tim Lawson made to others, including Marc Sessions Jenson, a key witness in the case.
The judge's ruling came after a two-day hearing in which Jenson, a convicted felon, testified for more than seven hours. He described his relationship with the three men and testified that they extorted money from him.
Prosecutors argued that because the statements were made by "co-conspirators" during the course of a continuing criminal enterprise, they should be exempt from rules of evidence.
Swallow associated with a group of people in a pattern of unlawful activity that included multiple instances of evidence tampering and bribery, as well as money laundering, obstructing justice, theft by extortion and falsification of a government record, according to court documents.
His trial scheduled to start Feb. 7.
Assistant Salt Lake County district attorney Fred Burmester said in the hearing Wednesday that the aim of the conspiracy was to get Shurtleff and Swallow into public office and take money to keep them there.
Related:
House Speaker Greg Hughes willing to testify in Swallow case
Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes said he's willing to be placed under oath to rebut claims that he attended a secret meeting involving the Utah Transit Authority at a luxury Southern California resort nearly eight years ago.Shurtleff was the apex, Swallow the money man and Lawson the enforcer, he said.
Swallow's lawyer Scott Williams argued that there was no criminal triangle. He said no money flowed to Swallow or Shurtleff and that elections are in the hands of voters. Men playing golf together at a fancy resort does not make a cabal, he said. Williams said there's no proof the three conspired to break the law.
All criminal charges were dropped against Shurtleff last year.
Jenson testified that Shurtleff and Swallow shook him down for money and favors on trips to the posh Pelican Hill resort in that he paid for and where rented four villas. He moved to the Southern California resort after taking a plea deal for selling unregistered securities.
A judge sent him to prison in 2011 after he failed to pay $4.1 million in restitution. He was released in 2015.
