Judge strikes conflict of interest statement from Jeremy Johnson case

A federal judge on Friday struck from the record in the Jeremy Johnson case a statement that claimed that another judge had advised an attorney not to disclose a possible conflict of interest when she was appointed to represent the now-imprisoned St. George businessman.

U.S. District Judge David Nuffer, who presided over Johnson's trial last year, said Johnson's current attorneys had not followed proper procedures when they filed the statement and ignored a previous ruling that struck down their motion to hold a hearing on the matter.

Attorneys Karra Porter and Mary Corporon filed the statement because they said no transcript or recording was available of a meeting in September 2015 between attorneys Rebecca and Greg Skordas and U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Warner, who handpicked the wife and husband legal team to be Johnson's court-appointed attorneys.

Rebecca Skordas previously had represented a businessman who was a potential witness in the Johnson trial that ended last year with a guilty verdict on eight charges of making false statements to a bank, but not guilty findings on 78 mostly fraud-related charges.

Shortly before the trial, Johnson was granted permission to act as his own attorney after he said he discovered that Rebecca Skordas had previously acted as an attorney for the witness, who Johnson claimed had caused many of the problems that led to a lawsuit by federal regulators and criminal charges.

Johnson claimed that Warner had urged the Skordases not to disclose the potential conflict, perhaps because Nuffer wanted no more delays in getting the case to trial. Warner also ruled there was no conflict of interest because Skordas' involvement with the possible witness had been fleeting and minor.

The issue also was part of the appeal brief that Porter and Corporon filed last week with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Nuffer acted on a motion filed Tuesday by the U.S. attorney's office. Porter said she also would appeal the ruling.

tharvey@sltrib.com