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Prominent Utah defense attorney feared dead after falling down Norway waterfall

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From left, Brenda Viera, Andrea Garland, Kent Hart and Paul Ray protest firing squad legislation on the South steps of the Utah State Capital in Salt Lake City Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Hart  is feared dead after slipping and falling down a waterfall in Nor

From left, Brenda Viera, Andrea Garland, Kent Hart and Paul Ray protest firing squad legislation on the South steps of the Utah State Capital in Salt Lake City Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. Hart is feared dead after slipping and falling down a waterfall in Norway.

Chelsey Allder, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — A prominent Utah defense attorney is feared dead after slipping and falling down a waterfall in Norway.

Kent Hart, executive director of the Utah Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, was hiking at the top of a large waterfall Sunday near Oslo when he fell. Hart has not been located since the incident, his son reported on Facebook.

"The outlook … for his survival does not look good," the Utah Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers said in a statement.

The waterfall is about 750 feet high, according to the organization, which also published a link to a GoFundMe page in Hart’s name dedicated to supporting his family.

Hart has served as executive director for the Utah Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers since 2009. He has also served as a federal public defender in the U.S. District Court in Utah.

In 2011, the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah presented Hart with the Mickey Duncan Award, an honor given for his defending of civil rights.

Hart received his law degree from the University of Utah.

His son, Evan Hart, said he is about to begin college in Norway and that the family was sightseeing there.