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Ogden • A man accused of killing an Ogden police officer and injuring five other officers during a January gunbattle wants to dump his two court-appointed attorneys.
Matthew David Stewart claims in a letter to 2nd District Judge Noel Hyde: "I do not believe [the court-appointed attorneys] are representing me in a way that I would like to proceed."
Public defenders William Albright and Ryan Bushell were appointed to represent Stewart in March, after he ran out of money to pay Randall Richards, his lawyer of choice.
Richards has continued to work on the case, apparently for free, but the judge named Albright as lead attorney in the case.
Stewart said in his letter that attorneys Bernard Allen and Jonathan Grimes will be representing him, along with Richards.
The question of how the three will be paid was not addressed in the letter. Neither was it resolved during a Tuesday court hearing. Another hearing was set for May 31.
Judge Hyde said one concern with allowing an immediate change of attorneys is that nothing had been filed regarding Stewart's indigency issues.
Weber County prosecutors said they had concerns about Richards, Allen and Grimes remaining on the case to the end. They also doubted the county would pay for Stewart's trio of preferred defenders. Prosecutors also took issue with the fact that Stewart hasn't detailed why he wants to dump his public defenders.
"It's premature, in my mind, [to dismiss Albright and Bushell] without a clear record of what is happening here," said Deputy Weber County Attorney Chris Shaw.
Richards declined to get into specifics, but said the public defenders were impacting Stewart's ability to defend himself, and that they were not interviewing witnesses from the night of the shooting. Albright and Bushell shook their heads in disagreement.
Prosecutors also noted that a change in attorneys could delay a July preliminary hearing. But Richards said they don't intend to go forward in July because they have not received enough evidence and ballistics information to make a case for Stewart.
The night of Jan. 4, Stewart allegedly opened fire on members of the Weber Morgan Narcotics Strike Force who were serving a search warrant at the defendant's Ogden home.
Ogden police Officer Jared Francom was killed; five other officers were injured.
Prosecutors have said Stewart was hiding when the officers entered his home, then emerged and began firing a pistol. Stewart, 37, has claimed that he thought a group of men had broken into his home to rob and to murder him.
Stewart, who was wounded by police, is charged with aggravated murder and eight other felony counts relating to the shooting and marijuana cultivation. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.