The presiding judge in Utah’s 3rd District has denied Jared Rigby’s request to replace Judge Richard Mrazik.
Mrazik is presiding over the felony obstruction of justice case against Rigby, the Wasatch County sheriff. Rigby had asked for a new judge because he says Mrazik has prior knowledge about the case through a previous trial and could be a witness.
A Utah grand jury indicted Rigby and former Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds on felony obstruction of justice in September. Both have pleaded not guilty, but little else is known since the indictments are heavily redacted.
Rigby’s own court filings say he is accused of writing and mailing an anonymous letter to the Summit County Attorney’s Office that may have hindered the murder prosecution of Kouri Richins.
The letter contained allegations of past misconduct by Eric Mainord, a detective on the Richins case who filed to run against Rigby in the Wasatch County sheriff’s election.
Mainord later withdrew from the race and Rigby lost the Republican primary.
Rigby and Edmunds are due in court Wednesday afternoon for a private hearing about whether to make more information in the indictments public.
The hearing can proceed since Judge Kara Pettit denied the request to disqualify Judge Mrazik.
In a written ruling Monday, she said the kind of knowledge Mrazik might have about Rigby’s case and the anonymous letter at the center of it relates simply to the fact that he presided over the earlier Richins trial.
Pettit says Rigby hasn’t shown Mrazik knows something that might be relevant to proving or disproving his charges.
Judge Pettit previously denied a similar request from Richins, who was convicted of murder in March. Richins said Mrazik was biased during her trial, but Pettit didn’t see it the same way.
