D.A. seeking former prosecutor's phone, banking records

Salt Lake County District Attorney Lohra Miller wants to dig through a former employee's phone and banking records to prove she fired him for the right reasons.

Miller asked the county's Career Service Council earlier this month for subpoenas for the records to prove Kent Morgan, a 24-year veteran of the District Attorney's Office, was leaking confidential information to a criminal defendant.

Morgan, who has appealed his termination to the council, called the subpoenas a "wholly inappropriate fishing expedition," according to documents filed with the county's Career Service Council.

Morgan insists Miller's subpoena request proves she didn't have enough evidence to warrant his termination.

"If you didn't have enough evidence when you started, perhaps you didn't have enough evidence to begin with," Morgan's attorney, Phil Dyer, said.

"The county cannot bolster its case by seeking after-acquired evidence, when, to do so, would violate the Due Process Clauses contained in the U.S. and Utah Constitutions," the filing states.

Miller already has copies of Morgan's phone records from his work line and business cell line. Now, she wants the home records to bolster her case that Morgan leaked information to Steve Maese, who is scheduled to go to trial in July for allegedly running a prostitution ring.

If the council grants the subpoena, Morgan fears his personal phone records will "be subject to public scrutiny," since an average Joe can file a public records request for the documents.

"The privacy rights of (Morgan) and his spouse are being improperly, unduly and unnecessarily invaded without any justification or cause by the county," the filing states.

Maese and Morgan are friends who met during Morgan's 2006 election for district attorney. Morgan tapped Maese's marketing background to help him in his campaign.

After he lost, the friendship continued. But both Maese and Morgan insist no top-secret information about Maese's case was revealed.

They are friends who enjoy talking about politics, nothing more, they say.

But Morgan allegedly told Miller that he did provide some advice about Maese's prosecution, according to another document filed with the Career Service Council. That document alleges Morgan helped Maese pick his legal counsel and that Maese called him after court appearances.