SALT LAKE CITY — Former Utah Attorney General John Swallow continues to push for the public corruption charges against him to be dropped, claiming in new court documents that investigators have lied and misrepresented facts when gaining access to computer files and email.
Short of the case being dismissed, Swallow wants an evidence hearing to confront investigators about their "intrusion" into electronic communications protected by attorney-client privilege. He also questions the effectiveness and even existence of a "taint team" that prosecutors say they formed to segregate the protected emails.
Furthermore, Swallow's attorney, Scott Williams, says in new court papers that the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office has "frantically" insisted the court should not allow any independent fact-finding.
"While such an approach may be unsurprising in Russia or Iran, it defies basic notions of fairness and fundamental due process that are the underpinnings of the criminal justice system in the United States of America," Williams wrote.
District Attorney Sim Gill has said prosecutors did not read attorney-client privileged emails and that the correspondence did not figure into the case against Swallow.
Swallow is charged with 11 felonies and two misdemeanors, including racketeering, bribery, evidence tampering, misuse of public money and falsifying government records. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
A trial date is not set. The next scheduled hearing in the case is July 13.
In the latest court filing, Williams goes after the prosecution's lead investigators, Utah Department of Public Safety agent Scott Nesbitt and FBI special agent Jon Isakson.
Williams questions Nesbitt's "self-serving, career-saving" claim that he didn't see any of the approximately 12,000 images of privileged communications.
"Agent Nesbitt cannot be believed," he wrote.
Williams claims Nesbitt provided false or misleading information, and made material omissions in affidavits regarding the investigation into the Swallow case, including in the search warrant application for the electronic files at issue.
Isakson bears "central culpability" to the alleged violations of Swallow's attorney-client privilege, according to Williams. The defense attorney claims Isakson acknowledges the use of a taint team to filter content from email servers but that he purposefully sidestepped the process when it came to searching Swallow's computer.
Swallow, according to court documents, isn't satisfied that a taint team existed or was used in the searches of his email servers. In addition, for it to work properly, the team must talk with defense attorneys about what if finds. Williams said neither Swallow's previous lawyer nor anyone else whose computer files were searched heard from the taint team.
Williams said it's a "mystery" as to if and how the taint team operated and whether it was "recklessly ineffective and contributed to the attorney-client breach."
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