Disheartening writeups for Utah civil libertarians in the Standard-Examiner and Salt Lake Tribune this morning, in re this still fast-developing 1/4/12 Ogden Shootings Story. It all gets wackier by the minute, fer shure:
- Stewart's lawyer fights to stay on case as judge appoints two replacement defenders
- Ogden shootout suspect appears in court as injured cop watches
1) Despite the protests of Defense Lawyer Randy Richards, and notwithstanding his heretofore zealous representation of Defendant Stewart, the County Prosecutor's Office nevertheless somehow convinced this apple-faced 2nd District Judge Noel Hyde, that it would be better to appoint a couple of no-name public defenders, rather than the lawyer of the defendant's choice.
2) Judge Hyde has apparently ignored defendant's demands for timely pretrial discovery. The Standard reports that Defense Council again raised this issue YESTERDAY. A justice-oriented Judge would have made an order to immediately release all evidence to the defense, SUA SPONTE. But yet Judge Hyde Didn't do that!
3) After over a month of watching the Weber County Prosecutors' Office spill out a steady stream of innuendo and other "evidence" which tends to taint the local jury pool and incriminate Defendant Stewart, "Get this"... County prosecutor Dee Smith suddenly moves for a "gag order."
Civil libertarians should be appalled about how this case still "develops".
Civil liberties "skeptics" should register no surprise in saying "The Prosecutorial 'Fix' is in."
