- A judge dismissed child sex abuse charges against Brady John Tracy on Sept. 3.
- Charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning they could potentially be refiled.
- Court documents indicate the alleged victim was unwilling to participate in the trial.
WEST BOUNTIFUL — A judge has dismissed child sexual abuse charges against a West Bountiful aspiring politician.
The charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning they could be filed again in the future, following arguments about whether prosecutors could introduce a recorded interview of the alleged victim during trial. Court documents indicate that the mother of the young girl told the defense that the child was not willing to participate in the trial.
Brady John Tracy, 37, was charged in 2nd District Court on Aug. 21, 2024, with three counts of attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony. He was accused of inappropriately touching a child on two separate occasions between April and November of 2023 and was accused on another occasion of exposing himself to the child and asking her to touch him, according to charging documents.
Court records don't specify why the charges were dismissed, only that they were dismissed Sept. 3 following oral arguments concerning the recording of an interview with the alleged victim that was conducted at the Children's Justice Center. A jury trial was scheduled to begin that same day.
In its motion, the Davis County Attorney's Office argued, "This recording is sufficiently trustworthy and reliable, and the interests of justice will best be served by its admission at trial." Prosecutors also said the child and interviewer would be available for cross-examination during the trial, and the child's testimony would be the "best evidence of sexual abuse against her."
But in the defense's response arguing against allowing the recorded interview to be admitted as evidence, it said, "The defense has been informed by the child's mother that the child is unwilling to participate in the trial process."
The defense argued that using the recording as "supplemental" evidence when the witness is unavailable would deny Tracy a "full and fair opportunity to cross-examine on the most damning evidence" and would circumvent the court process, the court document states.
Tracy ran for the District 8 seat of the Utah Senate but lost in the Republican convention in April 2024. He also ran unsuccessfully for the Utah State Board of Education District 4 in June 2022, losing in the Republican convention.
In the 2019 West Bountiful City Council election, Tracy was eliminated after failing to file his required candidate financial disclosure report by the deadline. Before that, Tracy was defeated in the Constitution Convention in 2014 when he participated in the race for Utah House of Representatives District 20.
