Gill serves citizens | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

District Attorney Sim Gill's duty to evaluate an officer-involved shooting is a thankless job. No district attorney relishes this duty. On the one hand, if the officer is exonerated, the victim's family will invariably believe there was a whitewash. If he concludes the shooting was not justified, then he will likely be condemned by the police.

Gill conducted a painstaking analysis of the forensic evidence. He compared the scientific and physical evidence with the accounts furnished by the officers. His conclusion was not based on bias for or against the police; it was based on the evidence.

Chad Bennion, who has refused to withdraw his racist and absurd criticism of Gill ("Critics hoping to oust Sim Gill over Willard shooting announcement," Tribune, Aug. 11) has an obvious actual conflict of interest. It turns out his wife was prosecuted by Gill's office ("Salt Lake County GOP head blasted prosecutor hours after losing trial," Tribune, Aug. 14). Bennion's politicizing of this matter, combined with his unapologetic bigotry, is shameful.

Gill is serving the citizens by making difficult but honest decisions. He deserves our praise.

Walter F. Bugden Jr. and

Tara L. Isaacson

Bugden & Isaacson LLC

Salt Lake City