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[Utah] Walker open to a plea deal; prosecutors want grand jury
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| Contributor | particleman |
| Last Edited | particleman Oct 19, 2008 10:05pm |
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| Category | Investigation |
| Media | Newspaper - Salt Lake Tribune |
| News Date | Thursday, October 16, 2008 04:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Former legislator Mark Walker is ready to admit a misdemeanor violation of state election laws in his failed bid for state treasurer, but two independent prosecutors aren't cutting any deals - at least yet.
Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings and Weber County Attorney Mark DeCaria pledged Tuesday to press for a grand jury to hear bribery allegations that could end with indictments - despite Walker's offer.
"We're still moving forward as we planned," Rawlings said late Tuesday. "Nothing has changed with the plea deal. If [Walker's attorney] Jim Bradshaw wants to talk to us, we'll talk."
After the prosecutors announced their push for a grand jury, Bradshaw revealed that his client is willing to plead guilty to a technical violation of Utah's election code. "He will not plead guilty to bribery allegations," Bradshaw said.
Walker has not been charged with any crime. But his lawyer pointed to the fact that the former Sandy lawmaker is ready to plead and that the grand-jury push is continuing as evidence of what his client has said all along - "that there were others that participated in this discussion."
At issue is the accusation that, in March, Walker told fellow Republican Richard Ellis, current chief deputy state treasurer, that Ellis could keep his job and pocket a $55,000 raise if he would drop out of the GOP primary in the treasurer's race. |
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