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A witness tampering charge was dismissed Wednesday against a former Canyon View High School girls basketball coach after a brief preliminary hearing in Cedar City.
Richard Kim Blackner, 44, was charged in February with one count of third-degree felony witness tampering in connection with a 2014 Cedar City police burglary investigation.
Court documents say only that the alleged offense occurred on June 2, 2014. And a probable cause statement, which would normally accompany the formal charging information filed on Feb. 13, was not filed with the case.
Police have previously said only that an investigation had "determined that Blackner contacted a witness in a burglary case in an attempt to get the witness to retract statements made against the suspect."
But on Wednesday, after hearing testimony from Cedar City Detective Dustin Orton — the sole witness called by the prosecution — 5th District Judge Wallace Lee dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.
The case had been turned over to the St. George city prosecutor's office due to a conflict of interest cited by Iron County Attorney Scott Garrett.
Neither the prosecutor nor the defense attorney returned calls seeking comment.
Blackner has been on administrative leave from his current post as a counselor with the Iron County School District.