Show 2 The Millard County Gazette August 25 not available for purchase in the Southern Utah market until August 13th What that tells us is thst came bade to the dirty scene barely before the body was discovered That beer can had barely had time to warm up by the time it was discovered by the officers On the same beer can that have Hamilton’s prints on it are the associate of prints of an Hamilton doesn’t have a his criminal history by the way but a friend of his does and his fingerprints are also on that can He is from the same town in Southern Utah as Hamilton’s parents lived at Because of that other Leeds we believe that Hamilfingerprint ton brought that other guy back to the scene the FBI says that it is a rather common thing -- and told him about this terrible crime that he He probably knew was committed said that he knew the guy that did it but that he couldn’t taik about it because its too dangerous what this guy would do to him if he knew that he was talking about it They don’t come back to clean up the scene of the crime they come back to say dark that they have this deep secret that they know about and that nobody else knows about but that it’s not them that did it it's somebody else also found a wood Investigators splitting maul at the scene The Office State Medical Examiner’s tells us that where the arms legs and head were cut off that the damage is of the type that a woodsplitting maul would do The woodsplitting maul had human blood on it but not enough to give it a blood - - - type About the 29th or 30th of January 1986 there was an anonymous telephone call that was made by a man stating that he knew a guy named Robert Bott that knew a guy named George Wesley Hamilton who may be in jail in Washington County on a DUI thst should be looked at in connection with the missing girl from Southern Utah State College So Millard County authorities contacted the Washington County authorities and got Hamilton’s fingerit was his prints prints and bingo that were on the bottle and on the cans Detective Houchen of the Cedar tracked City Police Department down Bott who was staying at the Lunt Motel and Bott gave them the name of George Savage Savage turned out to be the anonymous phone caller Savage said that he had been talking to Bott and that Bott had told him that there was a guy that he was terribly afraid of He said that this man was a woodcutter and that he was a weird - 1987 guy Bott himself is a weird guy and he was talking about this other weird guy (Hamilton) to yet another who weird guy George Savage -really is a strange character Savage won’t give his true name or his background and he says his job is to investigate things and he lives in seedy little hotels sround the and he is the one that country broke this case So whatever the guy is We asked Savage on the telephone to explain to us how he put the story together He said thst it was because Hamilton was such a weird guy and thst he was a woodcutter something in Savage remembered the press about a woodcutting maul that was found at the scene and then he thought about how weird the guy living at the Lunt motel was Bott He thought that if Bott was afraid of Hamilton then Hamilton must really be something So he thought it was a wild guess that was worth a try and he called the police and that made the connection Since Savage got the information from Bott Bott became a suspect too So they arrested Hamilton and Hamilton said '1 didn’t kill her Bott did We were both there at the same time” So they arrested Bott and Bott said "No we all stopped off at the ranch (where Bott and Hamilton and I got worked) by Paragonah sick there and laid down to take a rest and passed out from all the beer we’d been drinking and when I woke up Hamilton was gone and so was the girl” This was the story that Bott told up through the preliminary hearing held in May of 1986 There was no evidence such as fingerprints against Bott except So Hamilton’s statement at the time of the preliminary hearing the Millard County Attorney at the time Steve Jackson and John Soltis from the State Attorney General’s Office who is a very experienced homodde and Dexter prosecutor Anderson (Deputy County Attorney) decided to cut a deal with Bott told Bott his thst They testimony was critical because it put Hamilton and Sharon Sant together and told of Hamilton making some real strong sexual advances towards her Bott’s testimony revealed that Hamilton had been fondling her body and that she had slapped him down and told him to leave her alone So they cut a deal with Bott "We’ll dismiss against you but you our material become witness” Since Bott was a drifter hitchhiker hobo type they had him arrested on a material witness warrant so he wouldn’t He stayed in lesve the country Millard County’s jail from May 29 of 1967 1986 until At that time Robert Dekker was spending an incredible amount of time investigating the case It turned out that he could talk to Bott better than his own sttorney could So we were thinking sbout offering immunity to Bott if he would go out with Dekker end tell him the whole because at that time Bott story was saying that he trusted Dekker more than anybody and was ready to tell him the whole story This is when the legal problem started In Utah the only kind of immunity you can give is "immunity to the crime” You can not give "use immunity” which means the person is immune from use of the information they have given against them So in other words it’s not just a case of not being able to use their statements against them you have to forgive them for the crime itself Do you think thst stinks? That stinks! Only two people can grant that immunity - one is the State Attorney General and of course he is not interested in granting immunity on a case like that The other one is that’s me the County Attorney So Ed Phillips and Robert Dekker were in my office one day and we were talking about it We mutually decided that possibly the only way to get this case broken open was to give Bott immunity At this time Bott was telling Dekker that he could tell us how the murder was he wouldn’t actually committed tell him he would just say "I can tell you” So Ed Phillips Robert Dekker John Soltis and myself (Warren Peterson County Attorney) decided we were going to sit down with Bott and his attorney and ask Bott’s attorney to tell us the story that Robert Bott could give us We were going to tell him that if he would give us s good enough statement on how the murder was committed and if it correlates with the physical facts so that we know that you are telling the truth and if you can tell us where the missing body parts are then we’ll cut you the immunity because we need to know the truth in this case So Ed Phillips left my office and he went back to Fillmore and there was a conversation between Phillips and Dexter Anderson about what we Then a few just talked about later Bott's minutes attorney Milton Harmon of Nephi who just happened to be in Fillmore working as the public defender for Millard County came into Dexter Anderson’s office and there was a conversation - - - PHONE OUTDOOR HALL t - INTERVIEWER: Why did Bott’s attorney think he had immunity? Doesn’t there have to be a document drawn up or something offici i t e n t t ' PETERSON: No No it has to be at least I wouldn’t do it without a signed agreement In fact an agreement was prepared so that if he delivered on telling us on where the body parts were we would have signed an agreement granting him immunity But when that turned out to be a lie I refused to sign an because he had lied to agreement us INTERVIEWER: Well then wouldn’t that indicate that Milton Hannon was in error and couldn’t it be shown that immunity had never been officially given? Harmon says Dexter PETERSON: Dexter says thst was in error Harmon was in error INTERVIEWER: As far as what? PETERSON: As far as whether in the discussion Dexter had actually said we’re giving Bott immunity INTERVIEWER: But if Hannon couldn’t provide any tangible evidence a piece of paper saying what he had been given and signed officials how by the appropriate could he claim he has immunity? - PETERSON: Well partly because there is so much latitude given to a criminal defendant INTERVIEWER: So he can given immunity orally? be PETERSON: Well he is not formally given it but the effect is still the same If he makes his statements while he thinks he has immunity it is just as good as a written statement You see thst is one of the most aggravating things about our criminal justice system The state are held to prosecution and police such a high standard of conduct and yet the defendant can trick you he can lie to you he can manipulate you if he is smart enough to do it and you are stuck The pendulum has swung too far I think And I’m just afraid that it has swung so and we aren’t going to like far that side of it either But that’s how it is So the situation was that in thst and Anderson between meeting Harmon Anderson came out of it thinking he had told Harmon "We are ready to grant immunity if you can deliver on the right facts” Harmon came out saying "My man was granted immunity by Dexter - INTERVIEWER: Why would an of Milton attorney speaking Harmon reach for immunity that he knows his client doesn’t deserve? FILLMORE BAPTIST CHURCH So Bapt Affiliation Phone Adult 00 p m Regular Asian 6 30 p m Sunday Will Be Held At Pod) ‘ INTERVIEWER: But can immunity legally be given orally without any written documentation? - AUGUST 29 ' ' He thought he had PETERSON: the immunity based on the conversation between him and Dexter Anderson So it’s a choice maybe two people heard the same conversation and they were both being honest about it the other one or maybe was fudging I personally do not know because I was not there Music By: Dudley Walker Everybody Welcome Come Celebrate Summer's End! (If It Rains ally written? Anderson” North Park Fillmore 9:00 pm 'til ??? 9 t - CONCERT & DANCE A SATURDAY CALL FOR APPOINTMENT NOW: Phone 743-68East Millard Area Phone West Millard Area Vf - PARTY RA YIUBOW CARPETS LIVINGRo”& Hannon then left between them Anderson’s office and went back to Bott and told Bott to go with Robert Dekker and tell him what he could tell him So they did that Bott went with Dekker and he told Dekker his story saying that Hamilton killed her at Cover Fort by hitting her in the head with a large a combiinch end wrench wrench nation He also told the story about how the body was cut up and so forth So Dekker called me up on a Saturday night (April 4 1987) at about 9:30 and he said "Good grief here’s the story I’ve got” And I said "Why did he tell you that?” And Dekker said "Because he thinks he has immunity” And I just went "Bahhhhhh” My first thought was "I didn't We’ve got a real give immunity serious problem here” I got John Soltis on the telephone at his home and we called Bott’s attorney Bott’s attorney said "Sure my client has immunity now so I told him to tell We spent until 3:00 everything” am Sunday morning on these various phone calls And then the director of the Statewide Association of Prosecutors and John Soltis and I spent a significant portion of the next day on the phone We knew how the we knew murder was committed that Bott was involved because he admitted assisting in cutting up the no killing her mind you but body in cutting up the body He also was in obstructing therefore guilty justice by not reporting the crime and by helping Hamilton conceal the evidence Bott also told Dekker that he could lead him to the that turned missing body parts out to be a lie So now we knew we had two that the stateOne was problems ment that was given may have some lies in it so then we thought maybe Bott is more involved in this than he’s telling us which we had been kind of worried about all along Secondly now Bott thought he had immunity and may therefore have actually had immunity as to the statement he had given In this event we couldn’t prosecute him based on the statement he had given because he had immunity because any statement made while you think you have immunity or reasonably believe that you have immunity cannot be used against you M Thursday Night NE Corner ol Center VaV 700 pm and 4th West |