For the last 15 years, I have loved being a prosecutor.

After working at the Weber County Attorney’s Office

for a couple years, I joined the Utah County Attorney’s Office in August 2007, finding my perfect fit in the
felony trial division, where I continued to build towards the 60+ felony jury trials I have tried in my career.
In 2010, my ability to help crime victims get justice was enhanced when I was moved into the Special
Victims Unit (“SVU”), where I found my true passion. Handling these most sensitive cases for the past
decade has given me great insight and perspective into the complex balance of justice and mercy in
domestic violence, child abuse, molestation, and sexual assault cases.

When David Leavitt became the Utah County Attorney in January 2019, I continued this critical
collaboration with the Utah County Special Victims Task Force, which is run by the Utah County Sheriff’s
Office, in serving SVU victims in our community. After a year of tumultuous internal changes at the Utah
County Attorney’s Office, I resigned on February 3, 2020, and have now opened up my own private
criminal defense practice, Craig Johnson Law, PLLC.

As a deputy county attorney, I answered to the citizens of Utah County, but I realized my ability to
effectively serve them recently lost its utility. I left my cherished prosecuting career due to two
disappointing developments in January 2020, which became the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s
back:”

1. Mr. Leavitt disbanded the Office’s SVU team, which had 8 members at the time. I did not agree
with his reasoning that “any” prosecutor can handle these types of cases. In fact, these cases take
specialized training, knowledge, and coordination with local multi-disciplinary teams, including
law enforcement, CPS, DCFS, and the CJC. In the hands of untrained specialized prosecutors, case
evidence can be compromised by non-forensically-sound practices in questioning child victims
and not understanding the nuances and subtleties of the complex SVU state statutes. This change
set the Office back 30 years in antiquated philosophy and was not consistent with evidence-based
practices in other jurisdictions of Utah and across the country.
2. Due to philosophical differences with Mr. Leavitt, I was no longer able to fulfill commitments I
made to law enforcement chiefs and officers while performing my duties as the Utah County
Attorney’s Office Director of Law Enforcement Relations. Despite being ordered to do so, I refused
to disclose the names of police chiefs and police officers who were contacting me with concerns
about Mr. Leavitt’s practices and case resolutions. That “insubordination” ultimately cost me my
job.

The specter that the Jazz ticket situation in any way affected my ability to fairly and ethically represent
the citizens of Utah County is a false narrative. The defense attorney and I have had a long-standing
friendship for almost a decade in my neighborhood. We have coached our kids in t-ball, had family bbqs,
and otherwise had a long-term community-based friendship. Suggesting that we ever compromised cases
together that short-changed the pursuit of justice could not be further from the truth. I am an open book
with a stellar reputation in the legal community. The cases I prosecuted for over a decade are all public
record and open for scrutiny. Despite that transparency, no quid pro quo was found, or even alleged. Any
suggestion otherwise is an effort to distract from the real problems in the Utah County Attorney’s Office.

While I do not agree with the direction that Mr. Leavitt is taking the office, it is critical that the Utah County
Attorney’s Office succeeds to ensure that our community continues to stay protected. In the meantime, I
have found great satisfaction and success representing accused persons who are charged with crimes
throughout the State.

/s/ Craig Johnson