SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Former Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff sued his former employer Thursday, alleging the state should pay the $1.1 million in legal fees he spent to defend himself against bribery allegations that were dismissed.
Shurtleff argues that he’s covered under a state law designed to protect state employees who are acquitted after being charged with a crime while carrying out their duties. That law is usually used by people acquitted by a jury. Shurtleff’s case was dismissed by a county prosecutor assigned to take the case.
But Shurtleff alleges he’s still eligible because Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes interfered with the case by ordering the county attorney to dismiss the charges.
“General Reyes breached the ethical wall he had allegedly erected,” the lawsuit says.
Shurtleff’s lawsuit was filed after months of negotiations between him and Reyes’ office broke down.
Reyes called the accusation “blatantly false” and “unfounded” in a sharply worded statement sent by his spokesman Dan Burton. He accused Shurtleff and his lawyer of basing the claim on “conjecture” and “wishful thinking.” Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings made the decision to dismiss charges in July on his own, Reyes said.
Rawlings said then that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the bribery conviction of a former Virginia governor narrowed what could be charged in influence-peddling cases. He also said federal investigators stopped cooperating with the prosecution of Shurtleff and did not hand over evidence from past federal investigations.
While it remains to be seen if the state will end up having to pay Shurtleff’s fees, it will likely be on the hook for those incurred by Shurtleff’s successor, John Swallow.
The two were arrested in 2014 on accusations they hung a virtual “for sale” sign on the door to the state’s top law enforcement office by taking campaign donations and gifts such as beach vacations from fraudsters and businessmen in exchange for favorable treatment.
Swallows was acquitted by a jury last week of similar bribery charges.
Swallow’s attorney Scott Williams said Thursday his client will definitely seek to have his fees recouped and that he’s hopeful it will not require a lawsuit.
Williams said he doesn’t have the estimated amount of those fees, but said they will be a fraction of what the state spent investigating and trying to prosecute Swallow.
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