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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Shining Legacy / udge retires with plans to work, golf and ski
By TIM GURRISTEROGDEN -- Being among those judges who don't mind golfing in the dark with flashlights may be part of Roger Dutson's legacy after nearly 21 years on the bench.
More on that later.
As Dutson cleaned out his office Dec. 31, his last day on the job, the retiring judge mused about delivering mail at 3 a.m. in the nation's capital to pay his way through law school, his pioneering drug court and possibly writing a book on Howard Hughes' so-called Mormon will.
He has refused comment as a sitting judge on the case's new developments since 2006. In 1978, he and Ogden law partner George Handy were Melvin Dummar's attorneys when Dummar went to trial over a purported Hughes' will that left Dummar and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints $156 million each.
Dutson said his Ogden home phone was bugged in the days leading up to the trial.
"We'd had problems with that," Dutson said last week. "I would hear conversations I had with someone played back on my phone."
At the time, the high-stakes trial in Las Vegas was likely the largest ever, that year's "Trial of the Century," Hughes being America's first billionaire.
The will named Dummar for rescuing a bedraggled Hughes from the Nevada desert in 1967.
The will was ruled a fake after the lengthy jury trial that some have come to question since a retired Las Vegas FBI bureau chief wrote a book in 2006 confirming Dummar's tale.
Gary Magnesen's "The Investigation" also claims massive fraud at the trial, as Hughes' giant Summa Corp essentially bought a verdict. After the trial, Summa took over all Hughes' assets.
Brigham City's Dummar now has lawsuits pressing in several courts.
Dutson said he hasn't gone over his notes on the trial "for years and years."
"I don't know if I want to go through them," he said Wednesday, something of a sly smile beginning to cross his face.
"I'm not sure what could be gained from it, but it might have something to add to this interesting topic. A fictional novel could be intriguing, don't you think?"
He's far more direct talking about what he considers the prime achievement of his career.
Dutson was the third judge in the state to try something considered experimental at the time, March 2000, when he opened the Weber County Felony Drug Court.
Now widespread, with drug courts operating all up and down the Wasatch Front, drug courts give the addict a chance to avoid jail time after pleading guilty to charges by undergoing intensive therapy and monitoring for a year or more.
"It's so much more cost-effective than locking them up and years later they come out with the same problems," he said, noting he plans to stay involved on advisory boards for the courts, as well as positions on boards related to child abuse.
"Drug court has been the most interesting, rewarding and, I think, valuable contribution I have made to the criminal justice system," he said.
Then he smiles, adding, "And that's according to a handful of people who agree with me."
At a going-away reception recently for Dutson at the 2nd District Courthouse, fellow 2nd District Judge and golf partner W. Brent West noted, "Roger was doing drug court long before there were any drug courts."
West noted Dutson has long had a practice of scheduling violators after sentencing to return to his court for regular probation reviews. He then queries the probationers directly -- not his prosecutor, defense attorney or probation officer -- on their progress in meeting the terms of probation, such as keeping a job, keeping clean urinalysis, curfews, avoiding drug and alcohol use, and so forth.
West also offered some stories about their golfing prowess, such as the night golf adventure.
Seems the two were going for a full 18 holes of golf one day when the sun started to set at the 15th hole. But Dutson was insistent they play on, West said.
"So we'd hit the ball, then wait to hear the sound of a thud, a splash or breaking glass."
Then they broke out flashlights to locate their ball.
By the 18th hole, some concerned-looking golf course employees, astride two golf carts with headlights, were waiting for them at the final green.
"I thought we were in trouble, probably in violation of some rules, soon to be the judges caught playing golf in the dark ... but Roger went up and talked to them for a minute. He actually got them to shine their headlights on the green so we could putt."
"It wasn't that dark," is all Dutson would say afterward about his night golfing. "We only needed light to putt on that last green."
Dutson was born in Lewisville, Idaho. He attended Utah State University, where he earned a bachelors' degree in business after growing tired of chemistry.
He received his law degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in 1965. He had a private practice in Ogden from 1968 to 1980 after three years as a defense counsel in San Diego for the U.S. Navy's Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps.
He was Roy city's attorney, city manager and economic development director at the time he was appointed a judge in 1988 by Gov. Norm Bangerter.
"My ski pass still works every day," Dutson, 71, said of his retirement plans. "There are a lot of older people than me on the slopes. I don't think I'm old."
He took up skiing at age 33.
His retirement isn't comprehensive. The Utah Judicial Council earlier this month named him a senior judge, meaning he will be pinch-hitting as needed in the 2nd District, already assigned seven cases for January and February.
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