Judge continues waiver hearing in State v. Mark Allen after defense warns of conflict involving county attorney

The presiding judge in the remote calendar for State of Utah v. Mark Allen continued a waiver hearing to Feb. 9 at 1:00 p.m. after defense counsel raised a possible conflict involving the county attorney's office.

Defense attorney Parmley told the court Tuesday that a discovery request he filed had not been answered and that, he had learned the previous day, the alleged victim in the criminal case had filed a separate lawsuit naming County Attorney David Levitt. "I'm looking at filing a motion to disqualify them," Parmley said, adding the defense sought a continuance to allow time to pursue that relief.

The prosecutor said the state did not object to additional time. "The state doesn't have an objection," the prosecutor said. The judge said, on the face of what had been represented, there appeared to be a clear conflict of interest and asked the parties to consider whether another county attorney's office should prosecute if a conflict were found. "It'll still remain before me. It'll just be prosecuted by another office if it's determined there's a conflict," the judge said.

Parmley said he would file the motion to disqualify "straight away" and later confirmed he had received word from the defendant that the defendant could hear the day's proceedings. Court staff had earlier reported the defendant was not logged in correctly and may not have been able to speak.

The court set the next waiver hearing for Feb. 9 at 1:00 p.m. to allow time for the defense to file any motion and for the parties to determine whether reassignment of prosecution would be necessary.

Case background: The court called State of Utah v. Mark Allen, case no. 211401656, on a waiver calendar. No formal rulings on the proposed disqualification were made at the hearing; the defense indicated it would file a motion and the matter will be revisited on the Feb. 9 calendar.