Two former bid officials of the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games will be spending a merry Christmas this year after a judge threw out all charges against the men in mid trial Friday.
U.S. District Court Judge David Sam said that the case “offends my sense of justice. I have heard much in this trial about the $1 million spent by (bid leaders)” Tom Welch and David Johnson. “ Now the court has determined enough is enough”.
Sam entered a judgment of acquittal for Welch and Johnson. His decision can’t be appealed because defendants cannot be tried twice for the same crime.
He said the prosecution had presented “insufficient evidence” to justify the trial going forward and the government’s case amounted only to “confusion and speculation”.
He added that in his 18 years on the federal bench, he had never seen a case so devoid of “criminal intent or evil purpose”.
After the ruling prosecutor Richard Wiedis said Sam had been “too hard’ on the government.
Legal experts say the government ran a risk with an elaborate set of charges alleging bribery, racketeering, fraud and conspiracy.
