In a 29-page memorandum, U.S. District Judge David Sam condemned the U.S. Justice Department for “co-opting” Utah law enforcement and upsetting the balance of federal-state power to leverage felony racketeering charges against Tom Welch and Dave Johnson, executives of the Salt Lake City bid committee.
Sam said it wasn’t illegal for the Salt Lake bid leaders to shower IOC members with gifts and favours.
Sam wrote, “the state of Utah has chosen not to prosecute defendants for violation of any Utah law. Nevertheless, under the guise of aiding Utah with its law enforcement, federal prosecutors have co-opted an obscure Utah misdemeanor bribery statute of uncertain and improbable application as the only basis for charging defendants with four Travel Act felonies’”.
He wrote, it “broaches absurdity to believe the legislature intended to criminalize good will gifts or gestures in promoting Salt Lake City and the state of Utah on the world stage to host the Olympic Winter Games”.
Although the memorandum relates only to the four racketeering charges, it give the defence added ammunition in attacking the remaining 11 charges encompassing conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud. Defence attorneys insist the entire indictment should be tossed because there is no way to know for certain that the bribery-related charges did not unduly influence the grand jury’s decision to indict on the other charges.
With the racketeering ruling out of the way, Sam is free to focus his attention on the fraud and conspiracy charges. Prosecutors have until Thursday to reserve the right to appeal the July 16 decision to the 10th Circuit Court in Denver.
