Former Utah Transit Authority board member Terry Diehl wants a federal judge — not a jury — to decide his fate in a November criminal trial, arguing that persistent news reports of an investigation of corruption inside the transit agency has likely tainted the jury pool.
The FBI’s look at UTA isn’t connected to Diehl’s pending criminal case, attorneys for the developer say in newly filed court papers, but news stories and commentary have tied the two together.
“The potential for substantial juror bias is evidenced in the comments to The Salt Lake Tribune’s reporting,” the documents states. “In those comments, Mr. Diehl is connected to figures as diverse as Leona Helmsley and Vladmir Putin.”
Addressing such biases among potentials jurors would take considerable time, Diehl’s attorneys argue; a bench trial that leaves the matter in the hands of a judge would ensure Diehl’s right to a fair trial.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has not yet responded to Diehl’s petition.
Diehl, 62, was indicted in April on 12 federal criminal charges for allegedly lying about or concealing his assets — including more than $1 million from the sale of land for a UTA Frontrunner station in Draper — in both a 2012 bankruptcy filing and subsequent monthly reports required by court.
The indictment was issued one day after U.S. Attorney John Huber announced a non-prosecution and cooperation deal with UTA. Huber said the agreement allowed his prosecutors to focus on a criminal investigation of former and current UTA board members, executives and others involved with the agency and developments around its train stations.
Diehl joined the UTA board in 2001 and abruptly resigned in May 2011 amid lingering conflict-of-interest allegations following a legislative audit that questioned whether he had broken state law by using insider information to buy up the rights to purchase land around a proposed Draper station.
In last week’s court filing, however, Diehl’s attorneys called the federal investigation a failed enterprise that had “turned up no public corruption by UTA” despite more than a decade of inquiry.
The bankruptcy case, Diehl’s lawyers also contend, is merely an outgrowth of that unsuccessful investigation.
An exhibit attached to the petition includes four examples of what Diehl’s attorneys say are the “inflammatory and prejudicial” articles — all from Tribune reporters or columnists — about Diehl and UTA.
Diehl and his attorneys have repeatedly declined requests for interviews or to provide comment to the Tribune, and he has not asked for corrections to Tribune stories.
In a separate motion also filed last week, Diehl’s attorneys have asked the court to block some of the evidence of “purported misconduct, bad acts and character” gathered by federal prosecutors.
Attorneys contend the source of the evidence and its associated allegations is a disgruntled former bookkeeper who was fired by Diehl, and has no relevance to the charges.
Follow @jenniferdobner