This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.
On the seventh day of the Kouri Richins murder trial, the Summit County Attorney’s Office seized the cell phone of Richins’ friend and marketing manager, Greg Hall.
It wasn’t because prosecutors needed more evidence for the trial. Two warrants obtained by KPCW show the seizure was tied to a parallel criminal investigation into Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby.
The Summit County Attorney’s Office is investigating Rigby’s actions leading up to the Richins murder trial.
Search warrant affidavits in the case state that Rigby brought concerns about Detective Eric Mainord, his political opponent and a potential witness in the Richins case, to the Summit County sheriff in early January. The Summit County sheriff later told investigators she believed the allegations would become public unless Mainord withdrew from the Wasatch County race.
Rigby and Hall also met in early January. Hall told KPCW in an Aug. 31 text exchange he offered to help the Wasatch County sheriff with his bid for a third term in office.
Hall said they had just one meeting for about 20 minutes.