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Criminal charges have been dismissed against a former Kamas police chief accused of witness tampering and misconduct.

The case was dropped Monday at the request of prosecutors, who cited "insufficient evidence" to proceed to trial, according to court records.

Adam Howard Jones, now 37, was charged five years ago with third-degree felony witness tampering and class B misdemeanor official misconduct, for allegedly failing to take action during a domestic violence incident at his brother's home in 2011.

The case languished in the court system after years of appeals, even reaching the Utah Supreme Court as prosecutors fought a district court judge's decision to toss the case after a September 2011 preliminary hearing.

On March 7, 2011, Jones went to his brother's house after the brother's girlfriend called him and asked him "come over and take care of" his brother, who was intoxicated, according to court records. Jones went to the home and offered to call the county sheriff's office since he could not get involved with family, but the girlfriend refused, saying they could not afford for the brother to go to jail again.

Instead, Jones put his brother to bed and left. Later that night, the girlfriend called police and reported that Jones' brother had assaulted her and her child, and the brother was arrested.

Prosecutors argued at the preliminary hearing that when Jones failed to take action at his brother's home when the girlfriend reported that the two had physically fought, it amounted to misconduct under the state's Domestic Violence Act. Prosecutors also claimed Jones tampered with a witness by talking to his brother at the jail the next morning, because his intent was to clear himself of failing to act on the domestic violence allegation.

But 3rd District Judge L.A. Dever dismissed the case, finding that Jones went to his brother's house as a family member, and that it did not become a domestic violence case until after he left. Dever also dismissed the witness tampering charge, saying Jones had no reason to think he himself would be under investigation.

Prosecutors appealed, but the Utah Court of Appeals in June 2014 upheld the dismissal. Prosecutors responded by asking the Utah Supreme Court to hear the case. The high court reversed the lower court ruling in January, and sent the case back to district court.

But last week, prosecutors filed a motion asking for the case to be dismissed because of "insufficient evidence" to proceed to trial, which had been scheduled to begin next week.

Summit County Attorney Robert Hilder said Tuesday that after evaluating the case once it was remanded back to the district court, he didn't believe there was enough evidence to move forward. He said there were problems finding the girlfriend and getting her to cooperate with the prosecution, and there just wasn't "strong enough evidence" to support the witness tampering allegation.

Prosecutors had pushed the case through the appeals process, Hilder explained, because they wanted clarification on the evidence standard judges use in preliminary hearings.

"[The judge] at the preliminary hearing did not bind over the case for trial," Hilder said. "That was the single biggest issue. We believed we had legitimate probable cause to go forward."

At a preliminary hearing, a judge determines whether there is probable cause for the case to move forward, by determining if there is evidence that a crime was committed and that the defendant likely committed it. This is a lower standard than "beyond a reasonable doubt," which a jury must find at a criminal trial. Also, judges are not allowed to weigh evidence, and must view the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution.

Jones' attorney, Ronald Yengich, said Tuesday that he felt the case never should have been filed to begin with.

"I don't believe he should have ever been prosecuted for this," Yengich said. "... I want to give kudos to Hilder for dumping it. I think he did the right thing."

Yengich said Jones felt "gratified" in the dismissal, and was happy to have the case behind him. The defense attorney said he disagreed with the Utah Supreme Court's decision about a judge's role in a preliminary hearing.

"If a judge is just there to rubber stamp what a prosecutor does, then it's just a waste of time," he said.

Twitter: @jm_miller