In the midst of working on the upcoming Hive articles, IRA noticed the updates within the court event calendar for the American Fork case against David Lee Hamblin. In that case, Hamblin is facing six counts related to his abuse of Emily Sheets, the daughter of Hamblin’s alleged fellow member within the Church of Satan Dave Sheets. Sheets, the CEO of Emergency Essentials, lived down the street from Hamblin at 226 E 2100 N in Provo.
Hamblin’s home was at the corner of E 2230 N and E 2100 N, right down the street from his in-laws Richard Lloyd and Carma Anderson at 2220 N 200 E St. In David Leavitt’s recent divorce filings, his address was listed as 2087 N 220 E St, right down the street from the former residences Hamblin, his in-laws the Anderson, and the Sheets family lived in as they allegedly abused the Hamblin and Sheets children.
However, due to Judge Roger Griffin rejecting former special prosecutor Ryan Peters’ motion to transfer the case back to the Utah County Attorneys Office, the Hamblin case is without a prosecutor. As such, the case had no prosecutor, and Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray filed an interlocutory appeal to the Utah Court of Appeals on the issue of Peters motion to transfer while the Hamblin case continued. On May 9, 2024, the Utah Court of Appeals denied Gray’s motion to appeal, but the court has yet to publish any opinion.
That same day, the defense in the Hamblin case filed a motion to continue the upcoming hearing on May 21, 2024 to June 25, 2024 at 8:29 a.m. This motion became a moot effort because the Utah Court of Appeals denied the Petition for Interlocutory Appeal later that same day on May 9th. Due to this fact, the defense filed notice to withdraw their motion to continue the status hearing for May 21, 2024 to June 25, 2024. That hearing will now proceed as scheduled, May 21, 2024 at 8:29 a.m. in American Fork.
The defense also filed an Ex Parte Motion to Readdress the Pretrial Release Status and Lift Pretrial Release Conditions for David Lee Hamblin, who has spent the better part of two years under either incarceration or on home detention. As the Utah Court of Appeals has issued its denial of the interlocutory appeal, a material change in circumstances has occurred which the defense contends warrants a reexamination of the terms of David Lee Hamblin’s release.
Conclusion
The Hamblin case has no prosecutor because Judge Roger Griffin ruled against Ryan Peters’ motion to transfer the case to Utah County after Governor Spenser Cox nominated Peters to a judgeship. Since Peters was the only authorized special prosecutor on the Hamblin case, his nomination to the bench left the Hamblin case without a prosecutor. Judge Griffin’s reasoning in rejecting the transfer of the case to Utah County was as follows:
Utah County Attorneys Office had the case at the time when David Leavitt was the County Attorney, and his people were investigating the case.1
David Leavitt might be called as a witness in the current criminal case against Hamblin, or potentially be a future defendant related to the current case against Hamblin.2
Several current Utah County attorneys have worked under David Leavitt and have animus towards him.3
The Utah County Sheriff, as well as Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray, opposed David Leavitt’s. reelection and the sheriff’s investigators were involved in the investigation of David Lee Hamblin. 4
The State’s Motion to Reconsider correctly pointed out that the Utah County Attorneys Office had never investigated the Hamblin case, nor had it ever handled the case. Deputy Attorney Chad Grunander raised the issue of a conflict while David Leavitt was still in office, but before the Utah County Attorneys Office was ever assigned to the case. As a result, the Attorney General, Sean Reyes, deputized a special prosecutor, Juab County Attorney Ryan Peters, to handle the prosecution of David Lee Hamblin and his ex-wife Roselle Stevenson.
In the end, Judge Griffin’s ruling disqualifying the Utah County Attorneys Office from prosecuting David Lee Hamblin stands due to the Court of Appeals denial of Jeff Gray’s interlocutory appeal. The Hamblin case has no active prosecutor, and Utah County has repeatedly argued that it cannot find another prosecutor to handle the case. As such, the Hamblin case is in a state of paralysis.
A case with two eyewitnesses, Rachel and Eliza Hamblin, who can corroborate Emily Sheets’s allegations of sexual abuse, now lingers in limbo. Tomorrow at 8:29 a.m. MST, yet another status hearing will take place before Judge Griffin as the Hamblin case stretches to nearly two years and counting. In Utah, the wheels of justice are analogous to the wheels on wagons ridden by pioneer Saints in the 19th century: they’re buried in ruts and mud, unable to turn with any real consistency. David Lee Hamblin is likely to have his pretrial release conditions lifted altogether, given the fact that there is no prosecutor to oppose the motion his attorneys have filed.
The State Attorney General’s Office has yet to step in and appoint a new prosecutor, which it could and should do. Investigations in Ritual Abuse will be covering the hearing tomorrow bright and early.
State v. Hamblin, Motion to Reconsider Conflict, Case No. 221101048, Fourth District Court, American Fork.
Findings of Fact and Order Re: Motion to Reconsider Conflict, Case No. 2211010148, Fourth District Court, American Fork.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Is it me or does it seem like our governor Cox is trying to get in the way of this case. It seems he has had a lot of involvement with the judges and prosecutors in this case
Cox and the judge are corrupt that’s all you can conclude.