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Nearly two years after being wrongfully accused of murder, Roger and Pam Mortensen said Monday a broken criminal justice system has left them with no recourse for what they believe were deliberate misstatements by law officers that led to the charges against them.
The couple spoke out a week after a federal judge dismissed their civil lawsuit against Utah County law officers and prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Dale A. Kimball ruled their claims were barred by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a different case that "essentially holds that police officers who testify in grand jury proceedings are absolutely immune" from any claims arising out of their statements.
"It is hard to understand that falsifying information to a grand jury, especially by law enforcement, could be tolerated," the couple said in a statement released Monday by their attorney. "In our situation our right to have compensation for the injustices inflicted on us by detectives, sheriff's department and public defender has been halted."
Attorney Robert Sykes, who represented the couple in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, also had harsh words on Monday for outgoing Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and for John Swallow, chief deputy attorney general and a candidate for the office. Sykes said neither had responded to a June letter asking each to prosecute the investigating officers for the "criminal offense of perjury."
"The silence is deafening," said Sykes, calling on Shurtleff and Swallow to investigate the case. "Otherwise there is simply no consequence for what they did. …The attorney general should be the attorney general for all the people — not just for law enforcement, not just for the state, not just for the government. He's the attorney general for the people also. This is a case from the people crying out for justice."
Paul Murphy, spokesman for the attorney general's office, said he knows the letter was received, but "I'm not prepared to comment on what type of action we will take because of the letter."
Tim Taylor, chief deputy Utah County attorney, said Monday "Unequivocally, our officers did not mislead or lie to the grand jury. In fact, I have gone back and looked at the allegations in Mr. Sykes' federal complaint and he has plain and simply misrepresented what the officers testified to."
Taylor said that, at the time, investigators had information that seemed to contradict the stories the Mortensens were telling while, at the same time, the couples' "stories were not consistent with each other."
"I am sorry that Roger and Pam had to go to jail. But, at the same time, when we presented the case to the grand jury, it was the grand jury that made that decision based on our evidence that was truthful," he added. "We presented the evidence we had at the time, and we didn't try to hide anything."
Roger and Pam Mortensen spent nearly five months in jail after being wrongly accused of killing Kay Mortensen, Roger's father.
Kay Mortensen, a 70-year-old retired engineering professor, was found dead at his home in Payson Canyon on Nov. 16, 2009. Roger and Pam Mortensen told police they arrived at the cabin around 6 p.m. that evening and noticed an unfamiliar car in the driveway. They were greeted at the door by two men who tied them up. Once the two men left, the couple were able to get free and call 911.
They found Kay Mortensen in the basement; his throat had been slit, and he had been stabbed.
The couple were released from jail in December 2010 after police, thanks to an anonymous tipster, charged Martin Cameron Bond and Benjamin David Rettig with Kay Mortensen's murder. In December 2011, Rettig was sentenced to a 25 years to life at the Utah State Prison. Bond is set to go on trial in January 2013.
Pam Mortensen has worked with prosecutors since being exonerated and testified at Rettig's trial, Taylor said.
The couple filed the civil rights lawsuit in October 2011, alleging that staff with the Utah County sheriff's and Utah County attorney's offices gave misleading or false information to the grand jury that issued an indictment.
Their complaint alleged investigating officers told the grand jury that the couple had not provided, or had given "vague" information, about the suspects' appearance or vehicle and misrepresented their cooperation with police. The lawsuit also said officers misrepresented the couple's financial situation to make it appear they had a motive to commit the murder.
In fact, they accurately described the build, hair color, approximate age and some clothing the two men wore, Sykes said. Pam and Roger Mortensen also gave a detailed description of the car they saw in the driveway, their complaint stated.
Sykes said Monday that prosecutors likely decided to use the grand jury system, rather than go through a preliminary hearing and have a judge hear the evidence because they knew the case was weak.
"I'm sure the members of the grand jury feel duped by that process now that they know the truth that we were never involved and were, in fact, victims of the crime that took place," the Mortensens said in their statement.
The Mortensens said repairing the damage to their reputations caused by the wrongful allegations has proved challenging.
"This has affected our standing in the community, at church and the loss of [Pam's] job," they said. Pam Mortensen learned, while applying for jobs after her release from jail, that a background check showed she had been charged with felony murder.
"This was not removed until we had to pay to have it expunged," the couple said. Pam Mortensen's mother sold most of her possessions to pay her daughter's legal fees.
"The confidence and belief in the criminal justice system has been destroyed for us and our friends and family members because of our own personal experience," the couple said. "We were only weeks away from trial where the sentence could have meant the rest of our lives apart and in prison. Can you possibly understand the toll that took on us and those who love us?"
The Mortensens said they are "forever grateful" to the tipster who came forward and told the truth that led to the arrests of Bond and Rettig and added they hoped speaking out would bring greater awareness to problems in the criminal justice system.
"We as citizens must do what we can to insure that this occurs in our communities whether it be through election or public outcry to see that our rights are preserved," they said.
Sykes said the Supreme Court ruling undermined the case and that, despite looking "high and low" for other approaches, "There's no remedy."
On Monday, he said "It's really heart-rending what [the Mortensens] went through."
"What has happened here unfortunately is the Supreme Court decision allows [government entities] to do great wrong without any significant consequence," Sykes said. "It allows police officers to lie under oath in a grand jury without having the consequence of being sued for a civil rights violation. It's a very serious thing."