Nancy Workman's acquittal this week has many of her supporters reasserting claims that District Attorney David Yocom pursued the case for political reasons.
"What has been known by many for months is now finally publicly established by an impartial jury," said Cottonwood Heights City Councilman Bruce Jones, who chaired Salt Lake County's far-reaching change of government committee. "Mayor Nancy Workman was the victim of a personal and political vendetta and apparent abuse of power."
"The D.A., with his Democratic leanings, was totally out to get her," former Workman communications director Ted Phillips said.
Yocom, however, has strong defenders. Chief among them is Utah County Republican District Attorney Kay Bryson. He served on a bipartisan panel that reviewed Yocom's evidence against Workman, found it credible and recommended charging her.
Bryson disputed contentions that the panel's review was irrevocably tainted because the evidence was gathered by Yocom's investigators.
"As a seasoned experienced prosecutor — and all four of us on the panel were that — we have had experience with police reports that were slanted either for or against prosecution," Bryson said. "You can tell."
"An acquittal doesn't impute any bad motive to the prosecutor," he went on. "It just means a jury didn't find sufficient evidence to convince them beyond a reasonable doubt."
Democratic Salt Lake County Councilman Joe Hatch, an attorney, said that, given the evidence, if anything Yocom would have been derelict had he not charged Workman. Hatch noted that the panel found probable cause to bring charges, 3rd District Judge Robert Hilder found probable cause in an October preliminary hearing, and that the jury itself took nine hours to make up its mind.
"There was every attempt made to depoliticize what was going on," Hatch said. "The D.A.'s honoring the process, so why don't (his accusers?)"
Former deputy county mayor Alan Dayton relates an instance in which Yocom allegedly threatened to "get" Workman. But did the district attorney go so far as to actually carry out his threat?
"We all hope and pray that that's not what he did, but we'll never know," Workman said Friday. "It's an intent thing. It's in his mind."
Yocom himself declined comment for this article, but in the past he has said he would "uphold my obligations without regard to political affiliation of the subject or subjects." He has noted that the Workman investigation started with a whistle-blower complaint and he repeatedly denied charging her for personal reasons.
"I view Dave as someone who never stepped away from what he thought was right with regard to prosecutorial decisions — or other decisions," said chief deputy district attorney Karl Hendrickson.
Timing is everything
From the very beginning, timing has been a crucial element of the whole Nancy Workman/Boys and Girls Club saga.
Investigator Craig Watson began interviewing Workman's daughter, Aisza Wilde (nee Workman), and others at the Boys and Girls Club on June 22, just three days before Wilde's wedding. One exchange occurred less than 24 hours before Wilde put on her white dress.
"I may walk out of the temple and get handcuffed," she said.
For his part, Yocom maintained the timing was entirely coincidental.
"I don't do criminal prosecutions just to spoil people's weddings," he said.
Certainly, the investigation coinciding with Wilde's wedding was inconvenient, but it was not as consequential as the fact that the investigation was initiated just five months before voters would decide whether to re-elect Workman as county mayor. Intentional or not, the timing inevitably and hugely affected the election's outcome.
Consistent with the opinion of most political observers, political consultant LaVarr Webb agreed that the Boys and Girls Club saga likely cost Workman the race.
"She was doing well in the polls, they had raised an awful lot of money. If this was entirely gone away, I think she probably would have won," he said.
Workman supporters also accused Yocom of drawing out the process to ensure that a trial couldn't take place before the Nov. 2 election. They focused particularly on the fact that a week after Yocom brought charges on Sept. 7, he appointed independent special prosecutor Mike Martinez to try the case.
From the beginning, Martinez said he needed time to clear his calendar and get up to speed and that a quick trial was a virtual impossibility, leading Workman supporters to cry "foul."
"Justice delayed is justice denied," former Workman campaign manager Chris Bleak said.
Nevertheless, even though Workman attorney Greg Skordas has publicly apologized to Workman for not securing her a pre-election trial date, political observers say a timely acquittal wouldn't have made any difference anyway.
"I think she still would have had a hard time," Webb said. "It's widely acknowledged that she didn't follow procedures and made some serious mistakes. Even with the acquittal, it would have made it a lot harder than if it hadn't happened at all."
So, what now?
Workman has obviously gone through the experience of a lifetime, and not in a good way, during the past eight months.
Yocom, however, has also been affected, albeit in a much more limited fashion. He has weathered repeated accusations that he abused his power and cloaked his personal agendas with the trust and money of the taxpayers. But, like Workman, he has also had his defenders, who lauded him for pursuing a difficult case under withering criticism.
After the trial ended, Workman said she wasn't thinking any farther ahead than getting a job, paying off the mortgage she incurred to pay her legal fees and getting back to a normal life in the private sector. She said she has had several employment offers and other indications of interest.
The 64-year-old Workman did not rule out a return to politics, but indicated that the possibility at present is rather remote.
As for the 66-year-old Yocom, he is in his second consecutive four-year term as district attorney, his fourth overall. He has mentioned to colleagues that he is strongly considering retirement after his current term ends two years from now.
Given their history, the two aren't likely to exchange dinner party invitations any time soon. But while Workman in her post-trial comments and Yocom in his post-trial prepared statement did not exactly indicate that all was now well, they at least studiously avoided overt criticism of each other.
"Ms. Workman, I wish you the very best of luck," 3rd District Judge Judith Atherton said after the verdict.
Perhaps, in her more charitable moments, Workman might wish Yocom the same.
E-mail: aedwards@desnews.com