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Show D2 The Salt Lake Tribune UTAH Monday, May 29, 1995 ceéssy2oa> Hofmann Murders Long Over, by Uren Pre Sect Thought about having only fat-free weenies at my next cookout. But then 1 decided to go ahead and wavite the relatives. But His New Life Just Beginning Falsely Accused Of Crime, Man Picks Up Pieces By Mike Carter THE ASSOCIATED PRESS It's rare, but sometimes ShannonFlynnis stopped on the street by someone who thinks they know FOR THE RECORD RAN OVER BUDDY A Roy man whohad passed out in a roadafter drinking waskilled early Sunday when he wasaccidently run overby a friend. Christopher L. Thompson, 20, and his buddies spent the Memorial Day weekend camping anddrinkingat the Bear River Refuge. Sometime around midnight Saturday, Thompson went for a walk and apparently passed out ina road. A friend, also 20, was searching for ‘Thompsonin his four-wheel-drive Toyota pickup when he ran over him. The friend called 911 at 12:45 a.m. Thompson was taken to Brigham City Community Hospital, where he was declared dead. The friend, who also had been drinking, according to police, was booked into the Box Elder County Jail on suspicion of auto homicide. ia TOUGH TALK A KTALK (KTKK) AM radio station host didn’t like the way somepaintersat his station were talking abouthis dog,so he allegedly expressed his anger with a crow bar and a knife Sunday morning. The confrontation happened around 9:45 a.m.while the painters and a son of one worker were outside taking a break, said West Vailey police Lt. Craig Gibson. The host came outside and yelled at the boy for pestering the host's dog, Gibson said. “The kid said something to the dog or barked at it,” Gibson said. Not satisfied with the painters’ response, the host went backinside the station and allegedly returned armedwith a crow bar. He waved it in the air while yelling at the painters, but did not hit anyone, Gibson said. Later, when the painters retrieved their equipment from the office, the host again accosted them, this time with a knife, according to Gibson. The painters overpowered the host, took the knife away and called police, Gibson said. No one wasinjured. The host wasarrested on suspicion of aggravated assault. He also faces a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia becauseofficers allegedly found a pipein his pocket. Qo HANGGLIDER CRITICAL Hang glider Stewart Coddins, 40, wascritically injured in an accident Sunday evening. He was flying in the ‘Widow Maker” area above Point of the Mountain in weather described as perfect for flying when he plunged 100 feet to the ground. When DraperCity * firefighters arrived, Coddins was having a hard time breathing. ' Both legs were broken, said Drap- er Fire Marshal Dave Petersen. A medical helicopter was called in, . and other hang gliders gave the aircraft a wide berth whenit landed. Coddins was taken to LDS Hospital, where he was taken to surgery and treated for internal injuries.He was listed in critical condition. Qa NOT A JUMPER _ . ' » . South Salt Lake police Officer Chris Salas was sent to talk a man out of committing suicide Sunday. A caller with a cellular telephone said a man was preparingto leap from a billboard along Interstate 15 at about 3200 South, But Salas didn't have to do any quick talking. The jumper wasactually a mannequin dressed up like a doctor, The dummy was part of the billboard's advertisement Oo FALL VICTIM DIES * A6-year-old Provo girl has died . after falling from the balcony of } the Historic Utah Count: geo + house. Katie Hunter died ofin: Ss : ries at 9 p.m. Saturday, y pursing supervisor at Utah Valley ional Medical Center, The ; fallen from the 18-foot-! | balcony to the rotunda floor Fri| day night after leaning over a railing losing her balance, Prove paramedics rushed to the scene find transported the unconscious ) b him, butisn’t quite sure. “They'll stop and say, ‘Hey, I know you,’” said Flynn, who has a nervoushabit of running his hand through his receding, brush-cut hair. “Tl say, ‘No, you don’t.’ ‘Weren't you on TV?’ they'll ask. AndI'll say, ‘Maybe you saw me a long time ago. On those teasers for the news.’” In fact, Flynn was big news a decade ago. He wasin jail on a federal firearms charge and police had announced, with a cer- tainty that later evaporated, that they had captured the co-conspirator in Mark Hofmann’s tangled trail of forgery and murder. As it turned out, noneof it was true. Thefirearms charge was quietly dismissed, and Flynn wasvilified in print and ontelevision. Like so many others, Hofmann was supposed to be his friend. Morethanthat, Flynn had quit his job to work for the documents dealer who killed two people with bombs to escape detection as a forger and swindler. Butthe strange happeningsthat fall of 1985 wereonly the prelude to a sort of redemption for Flynn. In the ensuing years, murder would brush much closer to him than the Hofmann bombings ever did. And he wouldfight off cancer. All the adversity would drive him to go back to school for a college degree. And he would try his hand at writing about something that had got him in trouble way back when: guns. “Ten years ago, I had a pretty healthy brush with the law on essentially a Second Amendmentissue,” Flynn said. “It’s something that interested me.” In the days after the October 1985 bombings, police searched Flynn’s home and a shed. Among otherthings, they found an Uzi assault pistol that had beenillegally convertedinto a submachine gun. Police and federal agents concluded they had linked Flynn to the pipe-bomb murders of Kathleen Sheets and Steye Christensen. They told reporters at a news conference they had their man. Flynn’slife spun out of control. He was indicted on the federal firearms charge. Reporters houndedhim. Helost his income and his savings went to lawyers. And his steadfast defense of Hofmann rang hollow as he realized that he, too, had been duped. “T just didn’t know what wasgoing on,” Flynn says today. “I guess things would have beena lot different if I had been a little smarter. “But, you know, then I think: Howcould have I known? If I'd seen it coming,| I'd have stepped out of the way.’ Flynn wound up a prosecution witness at Hofmann’s preliminary hearing. After months of hassles with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearmsand the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the federal firearms indictment was dismissed. Since then, Flynn has visited Hofmann“‘three or four times” at the Utah State Prison, whereheis serving a life sentence. The last time was 21% years ago. “He’s actually getting on pretty good,” Fiynn said, because the killer-forger’s crimes put him nearthe top of the inmate pecking order. “Murder is a big deal out there,” Flynn said. “And, oddly enough, so is Screwing the [Mormon] church.” Hofmann’s most notable forgeries mostly involved letters and documents pertaining to early church history. The manipulative Hofmann tried to apologize once. “Tt was very mechanical and rehearsed,” Flynn said. “‘He may as well have not doneit atall.” For five years, Flynn, his wife and their baby attempted to pick up the wreckage. He returned to work at Wasatch Photography as a purchasing agent, but financial troubles dogged them. Then his youngersister, Calene, was murdered by her husband in Seattle. “She was just gone, like that,” he said. Then Flynn was diagnosed with melanoma. Doctors removed a tumor from his arm. Thestringof crises gave Flynn a clarity he still can’t explain. “You don’t have shocks like that very often,” Flynn said. “It was kind of a spooky thing. But suddenly,I gotthis big urge to go back to school. I can’t say why. I just did.” At 37, he just received his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Utah. He has also been writing. Threeofhis articles have appeared in the Utah Gun Review about the right to bear arms — a right he nearly lost toa federal firearmsfelony. Still, there are echoes from the past he can’t escape. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has banned him from the historical archives where Hof- @ Continued from D-1 legal issues without precedent that can be difficult ee ees tA argent says Parrish, who is a contender for appointmentto the bench in the state's 8rd Judicia) District. Pears aportant mann once researched his faithshaking forgeries. Flynn, a Mormon who has served in his local bishopric, thinks the banis unfair. “They’ve done me wrong and I want someone to say, ‘Brother Flynn, we’ve done you wrong,” he said. “It’s nothing more than guilt by association.” But the Hofmannaffair, and his other tribulations, have served to strengthen Flynn’s religious beliefs. “It makes me feellike I’ve gota chance,” he said. “It makes me see that we’re all humansfirst. But the first person whorealizes this is God. He knowstherewill be a certain amountof errors.” Japanese Americans Recall WWII Camp Trial To Burden Small County for the anticipated expenses. Thefive-day preliminary hearing last week already has put a crimp on county coffers, with expenses from boarding witnesses to overtime for court personnel. Of the eight defendants in the North Star case, six have declared themselves indigent and unable to afford legal counsel. North Star co-foundersBill Henry and Lance Jaggar have hireda private attorney, Sheldon Wellins of Palm Desert,Calif.; but Garfield County will foot the bill for four public defenders — Floyd Holm of Cedar City, David Sonnenreich of Park City, Marcus Taylor of Richfield, and Thomas Blakely of Richfield. “We've been referredto asthe defense team,similar to the Simpsontrial, but that’s not entirely accurate,” says Sonnenreich, who represents defendant Georgette Costigan. “O.J. has a team of attorneys representing one defendant. In this case, we each representone, two or three defendants.” And unlike Simpson’s lawyers, this defense team won’t get rich. Garfield County had capped the legal fees that each defender mayreceive throughthe entire proceedingat $15,000. Garfield County's costs could increase if the defense attempts to get separatetrials. That possibility was apparentat times during last week's preliminary hearing when defense attorneys were forced to object to questions posed by another defenseattorney. Testimony that would boost the case of one defendant might harm thecase of another. “With the numberof peopleinvolved, there may be no other choice” than to ask for severance, said Garfield County Public Defender Holm, who represents the three young men who were directly in charge of Bacon during his monthin the program. What the defense doesn’t wantis a change of venue. North Star has many supporters in Garfield County and around southern Utah,potential jurors who have donebusiness with the company, know the defendants from church or know of parents who feel the wilderness therapy saved their children “T cannot think of a better kind of a people that would appreciate the hard work of people taking a chanceonthose kids whoarelost," says Wellins, who acted as lead counsel for the defense. “I look forward to coming back here.” Wellins chose to represent North Star after recommending the program fora client's son. The boy was Bacon's hiking companion and is one of the state's witnesses. “I think about that boy andall the lives that have been saved by North Star and I intend to fight this forever,” says Wellins, a firm believer in North Star's methods and operations, “I don’t feel I am representing Bill and Lancealone, I have the burden on my shoulders ofall those kids who have gone through and hadtheir lives turned around, and all that won't, I feel more pressure in this trial than at any time in 25 years of practice.” A court comic who wore neckties depicting various cartoon characters each dayof the preliminary hearing, Wellins' demeanoris in stark contrast to the poker-faced prosecution team led by Assistant Atty. Gen. Rob Parrish. The state's case against North Star seemed compelling, but at trial the prosecution will attempt to get the first conviction ever under a law enacted by the 1998 Legislature. North Star employees are charged undersection 76-100 of the state criminal code, which states that caretaker who abuses or neglects a disabled ci pepe is of a third-degree felony. No one has been charged or tried under the in Utah, aah does make our job more difficult to some ex. tent because whenever there's no case law there are Douglas Pizac/The Associated Press Shannon Flynn, whopoliceinitially believed was a co-conspirator in the Hofmann bombings,sits at his kitchen table in Salt Lake City with document-illed notebooksof his ordeal. Museum Is Dedicated So Topaz Won't Be Forgotten or Repeated THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Christopher Smith/The Salt Lake Tribune Lance Jaggar, North Star Expeditions co- founder, is charged with seven others in the death of a boy enrolled in their program. “ht is going to be very difficult for us to meet the expensesof this trial. We’ve gone to the governor’s office... but we're notthe first in line.” WALLACE LEE Garfield County Attorney first step in showing howthe definitionsof thestatutefit this case.” Wellins says North Star's version of Bacon's death has yet to be heard,and the widespread media coverage has generally been stacked against the defendants since mostof the information being released comes from the prosecution.“It's like letting somebody tell one side of a story and then you make a decision,” he says. ‘Wait until you hear ourside.”’ But Parrish counters: ‘We haven't heard their side of it because really noneof the defendants have been willing to to talk to us to tell us their side. {North Star's] Jeremy Ashlock, who had chargesdismissed against him,still refused to talk to us." Sixth District Judge K.L. Melff will likely continue to shepherd the case through trial, something of which both sides approve. Although the newly appointed judge could periodically be seen sucking on a lemon behind the benchto ease a sore throat during the proceedings, his demeanorin handling eight attorneys in the same courtroom was rarely sour. “While we were obviously disappointed with his ruling to bind over,it was a reasonable decision from avery, very fair man,” says Wellins, “I've never seen a court work harder." Mclff was highly critical of North Star in his ruling, however, He pronouncedthat North Star administrators Jaggar and Henry ‘could not hide behind” mistakes made by the youthfulstaff, adding: “Their overall supervision of this program encouraged the creation of a noncaring mentality, to some extent a green beret mentality, where toughness was underscored, where consequences were employed to excess [and] allowed creation of circumstances facilitating abuse and neglect.” The judge's statements comforted Bacon's parents, Bob and Sally, who sometimes left the courtroom during graphic testimony about their boy's death and during attempts by the defense to portray Aaron as a drug-addled, manipulative liar. “It's hard when you're considered the victims in the case to know whether you're looking at this objectively,” says Bob Bacon, who spent the weekseated in the audience, typing notes and thoughts about the proceedings on a laptop computer, “But the jud "y decision and his comments validated what ecoork orNagle His death could ive been prevented. j DELTA — On a Memorial Day weekend set aside to honor the nation’s war dead, Japanese Americans recalled being forced into World War II relocation camps for no other reason than their race. In Utah, 8,000 were locked behind the barbed wire of the westcentral desert Topaz camp, near Delta. Uprooted from the West Coast under presidential directive, they could keep only what they could carry. “It wasn’t until I was growing up that I realized that we went to prison,” recalled Alice Hirai, an internee at Topaz during World WarII. “We wentwithouta trial and without due process. I was angry for a long time.” Hirai wasonly 3 yearsold at the camp, so she doesn’t remember much — a Buddhist church service, nursery school, seeing the movie ‘Snow White”forthefirst time. But others have madesure To- Convention Attracts 600 Former Addicts @ Continued from D-1 work for several days, myutilities had been shutoff and I had filed for bankruptcy,” he said.‘I didn't believe there was a wayout." Cocaine Anonymous members share hundreds of those stories during their weekly meetings and annual conventions, The group has no specific count of membership, butit estimates the various CA chapters across the United States, Canada, Britain and France hold 2,000 meetings a week, 13 of them in the Salt Lake metro area, It also operates crisis helplines. A recent CA survey revealed a membership that is predominantly male, ranging in age largel;y from 25 years old to 44 years om and includes trained professi als, skilled laborers and office workers, Atthe “eMof substanceprone ery is a 12-step program rr rowed from Alcoholics Anonymous — that begins with “admitting we were powerless over cocaine” and moves to ci ing the message of spritual aw: ening to other addicts, Despite the name, Sayers ) paz never will be forgotten: On Saturday, the restored Topaz Museum Recreation Hall was dedicated in Delta. It marks thefirst phase in establishing a museum, sponsored by the Great Basin Historical Society and directed by Jane Beckwith, chairwoman of the Topaz Museum Committee. “This ceremony bridges the past to the present and reminds us of the Japanese connection to Utah,” said Gov. Mike Leavitt in a letter read by Lou Tong,director of Asian and Polynesian Affairs. “Myhopeis that[this event] will serve as a reminderthat history must not be repeated.” In 1942, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese American families — many of whom were U.S. citizens — were ordered to report to campsand held as possible enemies until 1945. Topaz’s population wasso great that it became Utah'sfifth-largest city. “They held us there for espionage,”’ said Ted Nagata, an award-winning Salt Lake graphic design artist who was a Topazinternee at age 6. “There was never even a case that could provethat. The whole episode was a big mistake.” addicts of all kinds and willingly discusses their problemswith alcohol, cocaine or other mind-altering substances, This weekend the convention featured several speeches from recovering addicts, workshops covering topics from relapse prevention to women’s issues and marathon groupsessions running aroundthe clock, in which participants sharetheir experiences, And they shared more than sadness and heartache. A golf tournament, a tour of the Salt Lake City area anda trip on the Heber Valley Railroad occupied a few mornings, while dances, bingo and banquets comprised the evening agenda. Some even hooked up on the Internet with a group from Sweden. ‘These days, William has plenty to celebrate.He has kept the same job throughout his addiction and continuing recovery. Then, last month he married K , herself a recovering cocaine “My parents were shocked whenthey heard I was on drugs,” said Kelly, whose addiction got herfired twice. ‘They ieuned it was a behavior problem.” Thetwo help addictive employees at work, travel to CA conventions and organize an annual oeee party at a convalescent ie 2 gone my 7 of them en it hele 1 had it relal i, in or] |
