SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, July 18, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — In a surprise move, prosecutors on Monday morning asked a judge to dismiss all corruption and bribery charges against former Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, in part because of insufficient evidence.
Shurtleff had been charged with five felonies: three counts of accepting gifts, one count of bribery to dismiss charges, and one county of obstruction of justice. He also was charged with two misdemeanors: obstructing justice and official misconduct.
Shurtleff pleaded innocent, and his trial was set for October.
Troy Rawlings, Davis County Attorney, on Monday filed the dismissal motion in Salt Lake City’s 3rd District Court, citing his inability to provide Shurtleff’s attorneys with discovery material, insufficient evidence on some charges, and concern over the lack of a speedy trial.
The motion also indicated the prosecution no longer felt there was a “reasonable probability of conviction.”
Third District Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills will rule on the motion. She had previously ordered the prosecution to responded to a dismissal motion filed in June by Shurtleff’s attorneys.
The criminal charges followed a major investigation by state and federal agents on alleging misconduct and his successor, former Attorney General John Swallow, who faces separate corruption charges.
Will there ever be a time where the law is held accountable for breaking their own rules? Or will money always trump our legal system? Cops, politicians, religious leaders, etc. seem to continually dismiss laws, as if they are above following the rules like anyone else, simply because of who they know and how much money they have. When will the American people wake up and stand together to fight the common enemy? When will we ALL finally say, “Enough is Enough”?