| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
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| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
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Charges in Olympic case dropped
Judge dismisses all the counts against Welch and Johnson
By Angie Welling and Lisa Riley Roche
Deseret News staff writers
U.S. District Judge David Sam on Thursday dismissed all criminal charges against former Olympic bid leaders Tom Welch and Dave Johnson.
The 25-page ruling came unexpectedly Thursday morning, four months after Sam dealt another surprise blow to federal prosecutors and dismissed four pivotal racketeering charges against the men.
Welch was in Canada hunting with some of his children. He told KSL-TV by cell phone from Canada, "Yahoo. I always believed that this day would come." Welch said in a telephone interview with the TV station that the case would not have gone as far as it did "had there not been a lapse in courage and honesty on the part of others."
"I'm absolutely thrilled for Tom and Dave and our community," Robert Garff, SLOC's chairman of the board said. "It wipes away a blight on our past and verifies what we said for some time that this was something coaxed by the Olympic bid process and that these people hadn't done anything different than what had been done before."
Salt Lake Organizing Committee President Mitt Romney said he wasn't surprised by the news. "I'm not surprised by it. Our lawyers told us this $4 million ago," Romney said. He said that in his own judgment, some unethical but apparently not illegal conduct occurred.
The legal troubles of Welch and Johnson never interfered with the Games, Romney said. "The Games have never been about men in suits," he said.
SLOC now has to pay the legal fees accumulated by Welch and Johnson under its board bylaws. Romney said that the organizing committee will fulfill its responsibility to them, although he said there may be some differences about the amount owed.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Boyce previously upheld the entire 15-count indictment, alleging Welch and Johnson gave more than $1 million in cash, scholarships and gifts to International Olympic Committee members during Salt Lake City's bid for the 2002 Winter Games.
The July dismissal proved to be the undoing of the Justice Department's case, according to Sam's Thursday ruling.
"Bribery allegations, or allegations reasonably implying bribery, permeate the entire indictment," Sam wrote. "The wording of the indictment and the government's own comments reflect that the remaining conspiracy, wire and mail fraud charges are based on the presumption that defendants bribed IOC members unlawfully to award Salt Lake City the Olympic Games." Defense attorneys maintained the entire case hinged on the implications of bribery in the racketeering charges, which came under the federal Travel Act. The Act relies on a rarely used Utah bribery statute that Sam determined is "not originally intended to substitute a federal penalty for an infraction of state law."
Thursday's decision supports the defense attorneys' argument.
"The court cannot determine what influence, if any, the inclusion of the defective Travel Act charges with their reliance on Utah's commercial bribery statute may have had on the grand jury's decision to indict defendants for conspiracy, mail and wire fraud. Consequently, those remaining counts must be dismissed," the ruling said.
Max Wheeler, Johnson's attorney, lauded the judge's decision. "I always believed this day would come and never lost faith in" the legal system, Wheeler told KSL-TV.
Johnson did not return calls for comment by press deadline Thursday.
"The judge's decision is a vindication of what Tom Welch has maintained since the inception of this case — that he is innocent and committed no crime," Welch's attorneys Bill Taylor and Blair Brown said. "We hope that the federal government will not prolong this misguided prosecution by pursuing an appeal and will instead focus its energies on pursuing real criminal conduct."
Justice Department officials did not return calls for comment by deadline Thursday.
Prosecutors have filed a notice of appeal on Sam's July ruling. No word was immediately available whether they would take the same action regarding Thursday's decision.
Wheeler told KSL-TV he suspects "the Justice Department has better things to do with their time and money," alluding to legal issues surrounding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"Even though the government appears to intend an appeal, it's good to have the federal court agree with us on the lack of criminality in his conduct," Wheeler said in an Associated Press story.
Gov. Mike Leavitt said he considers his action in dealing with the Olympic scandal one of his brightest moments in office. The governor has steadfastly maintained that he did not know of gifts and favors going from the Salt Lake bid committee to IOC members and their families.
Thursday, as Leavitt left to fly to St. George, he said: "While I haven't seen Judge Sam's ruling, I think this brings closure" to the scandal. "The Games are in 85 days, and let them begin."
Utah House Speaker Marty Stephens, who sits on SLOC's management committee, said: "I'm very happy, happy for Tom and Dave, happy that this cloud has been lifted prior to the Games coming to the state of Utah."
Stephens, R-Farr West, said it is hard for him to comment on whether the charges against Johnson and Welch should have been brought in the first place.
"I don't know what kind of evidence the federal government had. But the federal government investigators were here (in the state) for a long time. And to spend so much time and money and not bring charges would have been a difficult thing to do."
Anita DeFrantz, the senior member of the International Olympic Committee from the United States, said, "Well, it's certainly good news for Tom and Dave, I think. The IOC's position has been this is a matter for the judicial system in the United States."
DeFrantz was linked with the scandal when Johnson told the New York Times that she knew what was done to win the bid. Asked for a personal reaction to the decision, DeFrantz said, "This was their problem, not mine."
Welch's former wife, Alma, who was married to Tom Welch throughout the bid, said she was surprised by Sam's ruling. "The federal government has such a strong case against Tom and Dave. . . . No matter how many counts are dismissed by Judge Sam, the government will appeal."
She said she expects the trial to "go forward. It's important for people to know what Tom did with our money."
Contributing: Bob Bernick Jr., Anne Jacobs, Dennis Romboy, Pete Thunell, Associated Press
E-MAIL: awelling@desnews.com
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November 15, 2001
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