SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, March 2, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — Former Utah Attorney General John Swallow has been found not guilty on all charges stemming from his political corruption trial in Salt Lake City’s 3rd District Court.
The jury took 14 hours to deliver its verdict after weighing eight felony counts and one misdemeanor count against Swallow, who was originally charged with criminal wrongdoing in 2014.
“I’m speechless,” Swallow told the members of the media Thursday night. “We’re just so grateful and the system worked.”
Swallow, 54, was a rising star in the Utah Republican Party when he succeeded Mark Shurtleff as Utah’s attorney general in 2012. He resigned a year later amid allegations of racketeering.
Swallow and Shurtleff were both arrested and formally charged with corruption in the summer of 2014, although the case against Shurtleff was dismissed in July 2016 after federal investigators dragged their feet in sharing evidence against Shurtleff, effectively denying him his right to a speedy trial.
Prosecutors had maintained Shurtleff and Swallow were in cahoots to extort money from wealthy defendants who had run afoul of the A.G.’s office. One such defendant allegedly paid for an expensive getaway for Shurtleff and Swallow after receiving a plea-in-abeyance.
Once Thursday night’s verdict was read, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill released a statement saying that while the jury’s decision was disappointing, it’s proof the judicial system works.
“This was a complex, difficult case. In some cases, jurors are asked to make simple assessments akin to black versus white. In other cases, however, jurors are asked to consider matters involving various shades of gray, where the right answer may be difficult to find but where prosecutors must nonetheless find their probable cause and follow the facts to wherever they lead. This case fell squarely into the latter category.
“We presented our evidence and made our arguments in a court of law, despite the many impediments placed in our path. As a result, this important matter was heard in the public forum of our State Court system, a verdict was rendered by eight citizens of this State, and the defendant was found not guilty. That is how our system works, and here it worked just as it should. No matter the outcome, then, we succeeded in doing our job.”
Trial proceedings in Swallow’s case lasted more than four weeks and was the culmination of nearly three years of legal proceedings.
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