Concerned citizens pass recall petition accusing Bear Lake prosecutor of violating residents rights and legal inadequacy

Adam McKenzie | Courtesy Bear Lake County PARIS — Motivated by concerns over violations of their rights and wanting to have a greater voice in their county, a group of citizens has gathered enough signatures to trigger a recall election for Bear Lake County Prosecuting Attorney Adam McKenzie. The prosecutor says the recall is motivated by personal grievances. According to the Voters for Transparency Facebook page, the group obtained around 1,100 signatures, and 938 were verified as qualified electors. A special election will take place on Nov. 4, when voters will decide whether to retain McKenzie. The group told EastIdahoNews.com the minimum amount of signatures needed for the recall election was 833. The members of Voters for Transparency sat down with EastIdahoNews.com on Aug. 13 to discuss why they felt the county deserves a different prosecutor than McKenzie. Paperwork provided to EastIdahoNews.com by the group cites a number of major reasons for the recall, but the primary ones stem from two court cases against residents, which the group claims violated their rights or were motivated by persecution. “Everyone here has been affected one way or another,” said Shelia Clements, a member of the group. Who is Adam McKenzie McKenzie has been serving as prosecuting attorney for Bear Lake County intermittently since 2018. He told EastIdahoNews.com that he was appointed in 2018 after his predecessor stepped down, and he then filled the rest of the term. He was again appointed after elected Prosecutor Joseph R. Hayes was disbarred due to conduct violations in 2022. McKenzie remained in office until Jan. 31 of this year, when the county’s commissioners reappointed him. RELATED | Bear Lake County prosecutor resigns, is disbarred over conduct violations According to Voters for Transparency, one of their grievances against McKenzie is that he has never been elected, and that the county hasn’t had a say in its prosecutor since 2018. McKenzie said the petition is unfortunate because it stems from the outcomes of recent cases involving county residents. “It’s a product of one of the real realities that you have to prosecute cases, and they may not be popular, but they’re prosecutions that you have to do,” McKenzie said. The cases During his tenure, McKenzie prosecuted two cases against residents Kellie Lyn Wilson and Rilee Lutz. Both cases resulted in acquittals, and there are now two federal cases against the county, its sheriff’s office, some of its deputies and officials and 10 unnamed individuals. These cases seek financial damages arising from the prosecution and allegations that the county’s entities violated their rights. Bear Lake County Courthouse | Daniel V. Ramirez, EastidahoNews.com “What was observed in the entire system down there in Bear Lake County is that they really just don’t care much for the rule of law,” attorney Kristen Beckett said. “They didn’t seem to care that they’re violating people’s rights. They didn’t seem to care about their responsibility as investigators to make sure that you’re verifying all the information.” Beckett is the attorney representing Wilson and Lutz in the federal cases against Bear Lake County. Beckett said that while Wilson’s case wouldn’t usually call for a lawsuit, he saw a need for one due to what’s been occurring within the county. According to the federal court documents in Wilson’s lawsuit, who is being represented by Beckett, on Nov. 20, 2023, District Court Judge Stephen Dunn found that Wilson’s 5th Amendment rights were violated. “It’s the fact that the government violated rights, and they need to be held accountable just because they ended up bringing charges against our client,” Beckett said. Violations of rights In the case that was acquitted, Wilson was originally charged with five counts of felony willfully possessing or accessing child sexually exploitative material. RELATED | Trial delayed for woman accused of sending sexually explicit photos to teenager’s parents RELATED | Bear Lake County woman acquitted of child porn charges following trial Court document states that, in November 2022, a deputy with the Bear Lake County Sheriff’s Office investigated a complaint against Wilson, where she allegedly sent nude photos of an underage girl to the girl’s mother. The photos were found on Wilson’s son’s phone. Wilson and the girl’s mother had been messaging each other over their children’s relationship when Wilson sent the girl’s mother the nude photos. The mother alleged Wilson had shared it with others in the community. Following the issuance of a warrant, Wilson asked for an attorney after her Miranda Rights were read. During the encounter, one deputy restrained her while another took her phone. When a deputy requested her passcode, she refused. After being threatened with arrest for obstruction, she provided her passcode. Once the deputy had the phone in his hand, he unlocked it, put it in airplane mode, and turned off the passcode settings. The document states that the search warrant did not authorize the county to search the content or change the security settings. The phone was sent to the Idaho Crime Lab for data extraction. The documents state these actions were not permitted under the warrant. Beckett claimed that if the sheriff’s office and the prosecutor had properly investigated, they would have recognized the situation as two mothers discussing their children’s relationship, rather than a crime. He said he believes the county saw a chance to get a story on the news that shows how they’re tackling child porn. The documents state that on Nov. 20, District Judge Stephen Dunn found that Wilson’s 5th Amendment rights were violated and that the evidence gathered was suppressed. The Fifth Amendment protects individuals from being forced to testify against themselves. McKenzie said that although he didn’t agree with Dunn’s decision, the evidence was still admissible during the trial. “We do our best in my office to train law enforcement to respect those and respect all of those rights,” McKenzie said. “No one is perfect, but I think we strive to do that, and we strive to do our best at doing that.” Acquittal and detractors The other federal case against the county involves Rilee Lutz, who was accused of sexual battery of a student and was found not guilty by a jury. Beckett told EastIdahoNews.com that if the sheriff’s office and the prosecutor had fully investigated the case against his client, they would’ve seen that the victim had been making bogus claims throughout her life. “In each one of those instances, she always lied,” Beckett said. “After she’s confronted with the facts, she ends up changing the story.” The federal court documents state the victim was confused about what to say before and during the trial. Recalling his experience, Beckett said it shouldn’t take that much to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. “As a guy who has been a prosecutor before, I would’ve never brought that case,” Beckett said. McKenzie said that, given Beckett’s stance on the case, Rilee’s attorney would do whatever he could to get the case dismissed, but he struggled most with labeling the victim as a liar. “That’s an easy label to throw out to anybody,” McKenzie said. “It was going to be a hard case. I knew that from the beginning. I knew that because in a case like this, it really boils down to two people, and what one person is going to say about an instance, and what the other person is going to say about that instance.” McKenzie said that, although there was no key piece of evidence, in these types of cases — where a relationship isn’t broadcast to the public — they often rely on the testimony of the victim, the defendant, and witnesses. Recalling testimony from experts, McKenzie said there are instances where victims will testify and protect the perpetrator. In this instance, this involved a student and a basketball coach. Another issue Beckett had in Rilee’s case was a conversation the victim had with a witness, who was also involved in Wilson’s case, during which the witness said nothing ever happened between her and Lutz. Beckett went to McKenzie with this conversation in an effort to dismiss the case, but was told by McKenzie that this helped their case against Lutz. McKenzie said those comments made by the victim were in line with what the expert testified about victims trying to protect their perpetrators. “I’ve listened to her and I’ve read her statements,” McKenzie said. “I listened to her testimony. I don’t believe she’s a liar.” Another factor in the federal lawsuit against the county, in Lutz’s case, is that the Voters for Transparency group claims the county and Sheriff Bart Heslington are persecuting them. Beckett told EastIdahoNews.com that the Lutz family and those within the group are seen as detractors to the sheriff. After a family member quit working at the sheriff’s office, these charges against Rilee materialized. Amy Lutz said that when her daughter was arrested, she did not believe she could have done something like that. When she had the chance to speak with Rilee, Amy said that Rilee’s first words were, “He is lying.” Confused, Amy asks who “he” was, since the allegations came from a girl, but Amy says Rilee told her it was the sheriff. “I get the affidavit, and I read it, I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” Amy said. “He lied and lied and lied to get her arrested.” Rilee Ann Lutz and her attorney Kristian Beckett. | Courtesy photo When Rilee was acquitted, Amy said three jurors came over, hugged her daughter, and cried. Richard Gleed, a member of the group, said that when they spoke with some of the jurors, many expressed that there was no reason this case against Rilee should have ever happened. “I talked to one of the jurors, and he said I hope this sends them a message to get their act cleaned up because this is just nonsense,” Beckett said. McKenzie said this case was not in any way a deliberate action against the Lutz family. “I don’t pursue a case because of vindictiveness,” McKenzie said. “I didn’t know who Rilee Lutz was. I didn’t know her family.” McKenzie said the case arose because school officials reported the alleged conduct as required by law; it wasn’t one that the sheriff or he had personally chosen to prosecute. “When we talk about probable cause, we had a preliminary hearing,” McKenzie said. “The judge determined there was probable cause based on the evidence to move forward.” Looking at the trial’s outcome, McKenzie said the law allows a jury to decide whether a person is guilty, and in this case, the jury issued a not-guilty verdict. “It was a case that needed to be moved forward,” McKenzie said. “It was a case I think, that needed to be prosecuted, and that’s why we did what we did.” $13,000 and public records One of the points of dissatisfaction in the petition document was the issue of public records and the county’s need to pay $13,000 to settle a public hearing on the matter. According to materials the group gave to EastIdahoNews.com, they allege that McKenzie refused to provide telephone records, of Heslington, during Lutz’s trial as part of the discovery. It states McKenzie used the excuse that it’d take to much time to produce. Responding to the allegations, McKenzie said the records were already given during discovery, but that the records the defense were seeking went far beyond what was mandatory. “We, in fact, did provide the routine discovery they asked for in discovery, phone calls between the sheriff and the victim, which we provided every one of those phone calls,” McKenzie said. “They got every record of those phone calls that we had.” McKenzie claims that the other records Beckett requested did not fall within the category of public records because they contained private information, and that his job as prosecutor is to draw a line to protect that information. He said the request did not provide specifics about when a call was made and was overly broad. A hearing was planned to review the records, and McKenzie said the process would’ve required them to review hundreds of phone calls. His concern was that the law allowing for public records was misunderstood and that it was not the best use of the court’s time to go through that process. “If you were making a public records request about an ongoing investigation to get information that the response to that would always have been the same, which is, we can’t give that to you now,” McKenzie said. McKenzie said the $13,000 wasn’t in any way a penalty on the county for failing to turn over public records, but rather a settlement between the county and Beckett. This was a way for the county to save money and time; if they had gone through a hearing, the judge could’ve set a higher dollar amount that the county would’ve had to pay. He said, based on his knowledge, the other records they gave to Beckett never prompted any further requests for documents. Beckett said the $13,000 was McKenzie’s acceptance of responsibility for failing to produce the documents they had requested during Rilee’s trial. Members of the Voter for Transparency cite this as an issue, noting that the county had to pay the money and that the judge required it. “It wasn’t because the judge ordered them to do anything; they tried to get out before that,” Beckett said. “That’s part of the problem. He tried to cover up their failure to follow the law.” Overall, McKenzie said getting the whole story is difficult, but he is open to discussing any questions residents have. He said being prosecutor isn’t just a title he can put on a resume. “It’s a trust that they (the commissioners) put in me to give them the very best representation and to do everything that I can to bring honor to the office, to bring honor to the county, to bring honor to the commissioners and to the citizens of Bear Lake County, that I take seriously,” McKenzie said. Clements, of Voters for Transparency, said the petition was a way to raise awareness that the county allegedly takes rights away if it feels a resident is a detractor. “Rilee is proof of them coming back on them — people that rock the boat, they become victims,” Amy Lutz said. Voters in Bear Lake will vote on Nov. 4 on the recall ballot. To learn more, visit VoteIdaho.Gov.The post Concerned citizens pass recall petition accusing Bear Lake prosecutor of violating residents rights and legal inadequacy appeared first on East Idaho News.
Source: eastidahonews.com