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Third District Judge Leslie Lewis and Grand County Justice Court Judge Paul C. Cox were voted off the bench Tuesday, becoming the third and fourth judges ousted since Utah adopted a retention election system in 1985.

Lewis came under fire by Gun Owners of Utah, as well as an anonymous group that posted a Web site, after she berated the brother of a man accused of poaching a deer. She also is being investigated for allegedly changing a sex offender's sentence without telling prosecutors.

Lewis will serve until her term ends Dec. 31, said state courts spokeswoman Nancy Volmer.

Said N.W. Clayton, spokesman for Gun Owners of Utah: "We helped make some of Utah's deer hunters and gun owners aware of the fact that she was expressing extreme prejudice against a lawful activity that many of them engage in."

Attorneys who publicly supported Lewis said the community is losing a competent, experienced judge.

"I just don't like the way this one was done," said attorney Greg Skordas. "I felt it was underhanded."

Attorney Dan Berman worries Lewis' defeat sets a bad precedent. "It's very easy in the world we live in to have judges make unpopular decisions that may be very much an appropriate decision or one that you would want a judge to make independent, free of punishment."

Cox, meanwhile, was not certified for retention by the Utah Judicial Council.

Twenty-four district and juvenile court judges and 37 justice court judges were retained, as were two of Utah's five Supreme Court justices, according to unofficial returns at press time.