Gary Sheets sued Salt Lake County over the dispersal of his wife's diary because he hoped to make some money and not because he was hurt by the use of the diary, a county prosecutor said Wednesday.
Salt Lake Deputy County Attorney Patricia Marlowe hammered at Sheets and his motives during closing arguments in federal court. She also accused him of suing the county because he wanted to get even with the local government for triggering his federal prosecution on fraud charges.County investigators stumbled across evidence that Sheets may have committed fraud while investigating his wife's murder, Marlowe said. "We sent that on to the U.S. Attorney's office. That's why he hates us and that's why we're here today," she said. "This is payback time."
A federal jury acquitted Sheets of the charges in April 1989.
Excerpts of Kathy Sheets diary contained in the book "A Gathering of Saints" contained nothing personal or intimate about Gary Sheets, Marlowe told the jury.
The excerpts only talked about Kathy Sheets' feelings and Gary Sheets does not own those, Marlowe said. "Mr. Sheets, contrary to his belief, is not Kathy Sheets' lord and master. Her thoughts are not his thoughts. Her feelings are not his feelings."
Sheets has contended he owned his wife's diary because she died without a will, hence his rights were violated when excerpts of the diary were used without his permission.
Sheets' attorney, Kent Linebaugh, told the jury that Sheets has a right to expect privacy and the county violated that federal right.
But Sheets has not proved he was harmed by the excerpts quoted in the book or that Salt Lake County investigator Michael George was the one who gave the excerpts to author Robert Lindsey, Marlowe told the jury.
Sheets also made no effort to keep the diary confidential. He did not tell detectives to keep the diary confidential, Marlowe said. He made no effort to retrieve all copies of the diary after the investigation was over.
"He only cared about the diary when someone used it in a book and then he said, `I could have gotten paid for that,' " Marlowe told the jury.
Sheets continues to suffer rage and depression over the use of his wife's diary, Linebaugh said. "I can't show you bruises and broken bones. I can't show you any scars that you can touch and see. You can only hear with your ears and feel the scars and the pain with your intuition and soul," Linebaugh said.
A key question in the case is who gave the diary excerpts to Sheets. Sheets believes George has given a "soft confession," admitting that he did it. Linebaugh dwelled on that confession in his closing arguments.
He acknowledged that Sheets had no direct evidence pointing to George as the one who gave Lindsey the excerpts.
"But there is such a thing as circumstantial evidence and circumstantial evidence is just as good as direct evidence," Linebaugh said.
Lindsey and George were close friends. Even though Lindsey said one of several people could have given him the excerpts and he doesn't remember who did, George is the only logical choice, Linebaugh said. All other possibilities mentioned by Lindsey emphatically deny giving Lindsey the diary.
But George has said, "I don't know. I might have," Linebaugh told the jury. "He continues to make the soft confession.
"In his heart of hearts, he knows he gave that diary information to Mr. Lindsey. There is no other possible way that Mr. Lindsey got that information."
However, Marlowe told jurors that 12 people involved in the investigations had full copies of the diary and "a couple of hundred" people had either excerpts of the diary or access to the diary.
Sheets also sued former Salt Lake County Attorney Ted Cannon. However, U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins told the jury Wednesday afternoon that Cannon had been dropped as a defendant in the suit.
The case went to the jury late Wednesday.