SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah attorney who took on controversial high-profile cases involving white-collar crime, politics and anti-government protesters has died.
Marcus Mumford, 46, was found dead in his Salt Lake City home by a colleague and friend who stopped by to bring him breakfast and discuss a case Monday morning, his sister-in-law, Katie Mumford, told the Oregonian newspaper.
Mumford, a divorced father of seven children, lived alone. Family members don’t know what caused his death. He didn’t have COVID-19 and there were no signs of foul play, according to relatives. They’re awaiting the results of an autopsy.
A bulldog in the courtroom, Mumford’s clients included convicted Utah real estate investor Rick Koerber and businessman Marc Sessions Jenson, one of the main accusers in the public corruption cases against former Utah attorneys general Mark Shurtleff and John Swallow.
Mumford also represented the Utah Republican Party in its failed legal fight to overturn the state’s contentious political candidate nomination law.
Perhaps Mumford’s biggest legal victory came in 2016 when he successfully defended Ammon Bundy on charges stemming from the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon.