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Attorneys for St. George businessman Jeremy Johnson on Friday asked a federal judge to release him from prison, pending the outcome of his appeal of his conviction and sentence.
U.S. District Judge David Nuffer, who presided over Johnson's trial last year and who sent him to prison, took 45 minutes to deny the motion.
Johnson has been imprisoned in California but is in Salt Lake City, embroiled in an ongoing dispute about his refusal to testify at the public-corruption trial of former Utah Attorney General John Swallow.
He has showed up in court for the past three days only to invoke his Fifth Amendment right despite offers of immunity. He is due back in court Tuesday.
Johnson's attorney Mary Corporon said he doesn't trust federal agents who violated a grant of immunity by providing information to the Federal Election Commission after Johnson had been assured that his comments from an interview would not be used against him.
Corporon also said Johnson fears being labeled a "snitch" if he testifies and then serves the rest of his sentence in protective custody.
The motion asked Nuffer to release Johnson because:
• He is not a flight risk, as Nuffer previously said, because he is in a prison camp in California with no walls and has not walked away.
• There is a "substantial question of law" in the appeal that could be decided in Johnson's favor.
• Allowing Johnson — a possible key witness at the Swallow trial — to remain under house arrest after the Swallow trial would eliminate the threat of physical harm if he testifies.
Another Johnson attorney, Karra Porter, said she and Corporon had reached out to the U.S. attorney's office in Utah to try to resolve the impasse but were told prosecutors there had a conflict of interest, which was never explained.