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A court hearing to plan the next step in the bribery and corruption case filed against former Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has been delayed, a new entry in state court records shows.
The Tuesday addition to Shurtleff's case docket indicates that a hearing set for Thursday in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court will be delayed until March 23. At that time, a date for a preliminary hearing could be set.
No reason for the change is noted and no new documents had been filed in the case Tuesday.
Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings, who is prosecuting the former three-term attorney general, declined to comment on the date change.
Shurtleff, 57, is charged with nine felonies, including counts of receiving or soliciting bribes, accepting gifts, witnesses tampering and evidence tampering.
Rawlings is expected to file a new criminal information in the case, although it remains unclear whether he will amend the charges. In December, Rawlings dropped a single racketeering charge originally filed against Shurtleff last July.
Shurtleff's prosecution stems from allegations that he and John Swallow, who succeeded Shurtleff as Utah's top cop, created a pay-to-play culture in the attorney general's office that involved taking bribes from campaign donors who operated businesses that could run into regulatory trouble.
The two men were originally charged as co-defendants, but their cases have since been separated.
Swallow, 52, is charged with 12 felonies and two misdemeanors, including counts of receiving or soliciting bribes, accepting gifts, tampering with evidence, obstructing justice and participating in a pattern of unlawful conduct. Swallow is set for a preliminary hearing in June.
Both men have maintained their innocence, but neither has entered a formal plea to the charges.