This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The seven people accused of beating D.J. Bell lost another round in court Wednesday when a judge ruled they didn't receive immunity from prosecution.
Third District Judge Robert Faust, in a written ruling, said evidence indicates immunity was never offered to the defendants. The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office sent a letter to some of the defendants saying it had declined to prosecute them but that they could be subject to criminal charges in the future, Faust wrote.
The defendants told Faust that a then-deputy district attorney, Angela Micklos, offered them immunity. Micklos denied that, and Faust said that even if she did offer it, she didn't have the authority to grant it.
The seven defendants accused with felony riot related to the attack on Bell have argued that they cooperated with the District Attorney's Office in 2008, when Bell was charged with kidnapping, only to have the information they supplied be used to prosecute them. They have also lost a motion to have the District Attorney's Office removed from the case.
The attack on Bell and his partner, Dan Fair, occurred during a July Fourth party in 2008 in South Salt Lake. The defendants thought Bell had taken two young children from one of their homes and into his own. Bell and his attorney have claimed the attackers were brutal because Bell and Fair are gay.
Bell was acquitted of kidnapping in a trial in 2009. Some of the defendants in the current riot case testified during Bell's trial or made incriminating statements as part of the investigation.
Defense attorneys for the seven argued that the district attorney made promises the office wouldn't prosecute their clients if they testified against Bell, and the defense lawyers would have advised their clients not to testify if they had known the clients could be charged with crimes later.
No trials have been scheduled.