UTAH COUNTY, Utah — Six felony charges against David Hamblin in Utah County have been dismissed due to discovery issues.
Hamblin was accused of sexual assault against a girl who was "6 or 7 years old" in the mid-1980s.
Investigators said the young girl and her family lived in Hamblin's neighborhood.
Hamblin was a licensed therapist known for using hypnotism and peyote during his sessions. Investigators say his license was revoked long before his arrest "due to allegations that he sexually abused his client(s)."
Defense attorneys said they were not given access to a key piece of evidence: an interview with the alleged victim. They have asked the judge to set an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the Utah County Sheriff's Office "knowingly and willfully withheld evidence."
A spokesperson for UCSO said the department would not be able to comment until next week.
The withheld evidence is particularly noteworthy to the case because prosecutors initially stated the alleged sexual abuse was "not in the context of a satanic child abuse cult."
However, according to defense attorneys, the withheld interview shows the victim describing, in great detail, "an allegation that after her baptism she was taken into a room at an LDS church where she was surrounded by many people in black cloaks; she was given the laying on of hands in a satanic ritual, and spoon fed semen from many named participants."
Some of Hamblin's patients have described how he tried to convince patients that they were sexually abused by other individuals. Defense attorneys indicate another interview showed a friend of the alleged victim explaining how Hamblin "implanted or encouraged false memories of abuse in therapy."
The judge is currently deciding whether the case should be dismissed "with prejudice" or "without prejudice." This would determine whether charges could be refiled. Special prosecutor Nathan Evershed argued the case should be dismissed without prejudice.
This is the second time a case has been dropped against Hamblin. He was previously charged with 18 counts of sexual abuse in 2012. Documents from that case show police obtained a taped confession via an undercover recording. Still, prosecutors decided to drop the charges.
Hamblin continues to face a total of six sexual assault charges in Sanpete County. In that case, he is accused of sexually abusing a young boy patient.
"Between the years of 1990 through 1992 the defendant was a therapist providing counseling services out of his home in Spring City," wrote Sgt. Elyse Hines of the Utah County Sheriff's Office. "During those years, the defendant provided counseling services to the victim, who was between the ages of four and five years old."