Attorney John Swallow of Salt Lake City; ethical gremlin

The State of Utah presented John E. Swallow with a law license in 1990 after he graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) Law School.

In July 2014, Johnny was arrested as the result of a two-year corruption investigation. After Johnny’s arrest, the court set bail at $250,000; however Salt Lake County DA Sim Gill agreed to allow Johnny to be booked and released without posting bond. (FOX 13, Salt Lake)

Johnny’s criminal conduct allegedly took place while he was serving as the elected Utah Attorney General.

Johnny was indicted on the following criminal counts:

• Engaging in pattern of unlawful activity, a second-degree felony
• Accepting a gift, a second degree felony
• Receiving or soliciting a bribe, a second degree felony
• Making false statements, a second degree felony
• Evidence tampering, a third degree felony
• Misuse of public money, a third degree felony
• Obstruction of justice, a third degree felony
• Falsification of a government record, class B misdemeanor
• Failure to disclose conflict of interest, class B misdemeanor

After his release from jail, and in a lame attempt at levity, Johnny said, “I absolutely maintain my innocence and this is just the process.” He then went on to laughingly claim that his indictment was “politically motivated by DA Gill. Johnny then said:

“He [DA Gill] knows he can’t prove these things beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Interestingly, Johnny didn’t deny that the criminal charges could be proved by “clear and convincing” evidence.

All that’s left now is to see how long Johnny will spend at the Utah State Prison in Draper, Utah. Johnny faces 1 to 15 years on each of the felony charges, which would be 7 to 105 years in the joint.

And lastly, if everything goes as expected, we should be treated to Johnny copping a plea in the near future despite his laughable claims of innocence.