SALT LAKE CITY — Former Utah Attorney General John Swallow wants the corruption case against him dismissed, accusing police investigators of violating his attorney-client privilege rights by reading his emails.
In the latest court filing, Swallow doesn’t buy claims that lead investigator Scott Nesbitt did not see “approximately 12,000 images of privileged communications.” He accused the investigator of making a “self-serving, career-saving claim.” Swallow also targeted in his filing FBI Special Agent Jon Isakson, who is a part of the prosecution’s case.
Swallow’s lawyer, Scott Williams, also said he didn’t believe prosecutors’ insistence that no violation of attorney-client privilege occurred.
“The State frantically insists that this Court must not allow any independent fact-finding in relation to its categorical and desperate assertions,” Williams wrote. “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.”
A judge has scheduled a hearing later this month. Swallow and former Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff are facing corruption-related charges, accused of accepting gifts and donations from people facing investigation by the attorney general’s office.
