SALT LAKE CITY — It's been a year since veteran prosecutor Chad Platt killed himself in downtown Salt Lake City.
But members of Platt's family say they can't move on until the investigation into their loved one is closed.
"We want to clear his name," Platt's brother, Shawn Platt, said this week in an open letter. "An innocent man's life and reputation was wrecked in a single day as Chad's door was knocked in and armed men stormed his house as if he were Al Capone."
On May 6, 2016, investigators from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force served a search warrant on Platt's house. According to the search warrant affidavit, investigators from both the task force and the Davis County Attorney's Office intercepted images of child pornography on Feb. 24 and March 30, 2016, from an IP address registered to Platt's residence. At least three images of child pornography were downloaded, according to the warrant.
Three days later, Platt, 46, a 17-year prosecutor with the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, jumped off a downtown parking structure. Family members say his actions were not an admission of guilt. Rather, they say, he felt hopeless and that his reputation would never be restored. He felt he would spend his life savings and all his energy defending himself. Platt left a suicide note in which his family says he maintained his innocence.
The task force seized a "Sony VHS tape, four floppy discs, four Fuji zip discs, and 40 more floppy discs 3.5" from Platt's house. But his family says no child pornography was found on any of it.
The only item left for which test results have not been returned is Platt's iPad, according to the family and the attorney general's office. His family wants those completed and they want to know why it's taking so long.
Shawn Platt said he is not worried "in the slightest" that any child pornography will be found.
"When I would visit him in Salt Lake he would let me use it to search the net and also let my kids use it for games. If the A.G.'s office could not find even one of the files they went searching for in his house or on any one of his personal computers. … they sure as heck will not find it on his work-issued iPad," he said.
Dan Burton, spokesman for the Utah Attorney General's Office, said the delay is due simply to resources. The attorney general's office has been waiting on agencies that have the forensic capability to do a full analysis on the iPad.
Other than that update, Burton said Tuesday that his office stands by its prior statements and had no other comment. The office has previously said the task force uses cutting-edge technology and adheres to the law "in every respect."
Shawn Platt said he has sent the office three letters over the past three months and finally got a reply last week from the office stating only that the analysis had not been completed.
"The implication of finding no evidence on this iPad or elsewhere is grave and this is why they are dragging their feet," he said in the open letter. "This means they got it wrong, very wrong, and destroyed an innocent man's reputation and life."
Platt's family contends the evidence that prompted the warrant was "weak," and they want to prevent a similar incident from happening to someone else.
"Say some kid hacks your Wi-Fi or a guest in your home goes to an internet site he should not be on and downloads something without your knowledge, well that is what happened to Chad on two occasions," said the family, who contends he was at work when the alleged file sharing of child pornography took place.
"It was a flimsy warrant and very technical," the family said in the letter. "More restraint and good judgment must be used than what the A.G.'s office showed in Chad's case."