With the start of a trial less than three weeks away, attorneys for Olympic bid leaders Tom Welch and Dave Johnson are making final requests for the dismissal of federal charges and taking a closer look at comments about the bribery scandal made last month by Gov. Mike Leavitt.
Leavitt appeared at a news conference on KUED on June 21 and responded to allegations that he had an original draft of a state analysis that raised concerns about the 2002 Winter Games budget destroyed and a new one drawn up.
A private investigator working for the defense team subpoenaed a video-taped copy of the program from the TV station on Monday, according to KUED senior producer Ken Verdoia.
Originally the attorneys "had made informal requests for the program, but we believed that was not sufficient," Verdoia said. "When they presented us with a subpoena, and we saw that they were not looking for raw tape or a work product — anything we would considered of a private nature — we had no problem honoring their subpoena."
During the half-hour broadcast, the governor told reporters that he did not recall asking that the document prepared by policy analyst Scott Green be destroyed. He said he asked for the changes because it contained "personal feelings."
The governor emphasized that the document had nothing to do with the bid but rather the budget for the Games.
KALL radio received a request from the defense team for a similar interview but have not responded yet, according to station representatives.
The governor's office didn't have much to say about the two subpoenas. Leavitt spokeswoman Natalie Gochnour said Leavitt probably doesn't even know about them because he's out of town.
But "his story hasn't changed" regarding the shredding of the report. State budget officer Lynne Ward ordered the document destroyed because state officials weren't comfortable with the tone, Gochnour said. "He knew about that. He didn't disagree," she said.
Welch and Johnson, who are charged with conspiracy, racketeering and fraud in connection with $1 million in cash and gifts given to International Olympic Committee members in wooing their support for the bid, face trial on July 30.
Tuesday the pair's attorneys asked U.S. District Judge David Sam for another chance to make oral arguments for the dismissal of the bulk of the indictment — 10 counts of mail and wire fraud.
Attorneys appeared before Sam on Monday, urging him to overturn the ruling of a magistrate judge allowing the four racketeering charges to stand. Sam has yet to rule on that hearing or grant a second one.
In court documents, Welch and Johnson's lawyers said that if the racketeering charges are dismissed, the mail and wire fraud must be thrown out as well.
"If there was no illegal conduct to hide, then there was no fraud and certainly not the fraud charged in the indictment," the lawyers said.
Contributing: Dennis Romboy.
E-mail: mtitze@desnews.com