Utah House committee advances censure of judge despite court concerns

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah House committee voted on Monday to advance a rare censure of a sitting public official.

HR8, sponsored by Rep. Matt MacPherson, R-West Valley City, passed out of the House Rules Committee in a unanimous vote. The resolution seeks to censure 7th District Judge Don Torgerson over comments he made during a sentencing hearing in Grand County last year.

During that hearing in May 2025, as first reported by KSL, Torgerson twice referred to a defendant's "privilege" as he decided not to require him to serve any additional jail time or pay a fine for possessing and distributing multiple images of children being raped and sexually abused. After viewing some of those images, Torgerson also told the court he had "seen worse" during his work as a defense attorney.

Neither the Utah State Courts nor Torgerson responded to KSL's request for comment on the censure. But a representative from the court attended Monday's hearing to express "frustration" about what lawmakers were considering.

Michael Drechsel, assistant state court administrator, told the committee that even Torgerson would acknowledge, in hindsight, "that there were statements made that would be made differently." In fact, Drechsel said, a training was held for all Utah district court judges in September "about being more conscientious about the choice of words that we employ, the way in which those words can affect victims, and the way in which those can affect people's understanding of what goes on in the judiciary."

But Drechsel argued that the resolution unfairly condemned the judge for following sentencing guidelines outlined by the Legislature. He said the sentence given in this case fell "squarely in the middle of those sentencing guidelines."

Prosecutors had charged Aidan Hoffman, who was 22 at the time, with multiple counts related to possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material. Hoffman pleaded guilty to two felonies, and 10 other charges were dropped. Prosecutors pushed for prison time, while Hoffman's defense attorney asked for no additional incarceration.

Torgerson opted to put Hoffman on probation for four years and required him to register as a sex offender. He told Hoffman he would not require him to serve any more time behind bars after he had already served nearly four months, telling him "112 days is a lot of jail time. It's a lot of jail time for someone your age who comes from some level of privilege."

Following Drechsel's testimony, the House Rules Committee eventually decided to amend the resolution and remove references to the "lighter sentence," keeping it focused mostly on Torgerson's comments. Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, said voters should be aware of them before Torgerson is up for a retention election in 2028.

"It really is a judge that made some comments that were inappropriate," Teuscher said, "and not seeing very much remorse from that judge in any public sense to come out and say, 'I made a mistake.'"

The resolution also calls out an initial statement from the Utah State Courts last year about the case that criticized KSL's reporting. The plea agreement, the courts maintained, specified that the "defendant would receive probation, rather than a prison sentence."

Drechsel, the court representative, reiterated that on Monday.

"You cannot be placed on supervised probation and go to prison. You can't," Drechsel said. "You come out of prison on parole, not probation."

But Grand County Attorney Stephen Stocks previously pointed out the plea agreement gave him the right to argue for additional incarceration, which is exactly what happened during the hearing when he asked for prison time. The House resolution calls the statement from the courts "inaccurate."

"I don't feel like that statement was completely clear and transparent," Teuscher said before the committee voted to advance the censure resolution.

Following the committee hearing, Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, who called on Torgerson to resign last year and is a strong supporter of the censure resolution, reiterated his anger about the issue.

"It is wrong, and it boils my blood that people want to justify what he said," Schultz told reporters. "It's unjustifiable."

Asked why the resolution to censure Torgerson is being brought only by the House and will not be considered by the Senate, Schultz pointed to a friendship between the judge and Senate Majority Assistant Whip Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork.

"Well, Sen. McKell and Judge Torgerson are friends," Schultz said, "so that's their position."

Speaking to reporters earlier Monday, McKell called the censure "misguided" and took issue with the number of felony counts dropped by the prosecutor.

"Did the judge say some dumb things? Yes, absolutely," McKell said. "But if this is a case where the prosecutor wanted to see a much stiffer penalty, why did the prosecutor drop" those other counts?

The full House of Representatives is expected to debate and vote on the censure sometime this week before the legislative session ends on Friday.

Legislative censures are extremely rare in Utah. The only time it has happened in recent history was in 2024 when both the House and Senate censured then-State School Board member Natalie Cline after she publicly questioned a high school student's gender.

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