Utah Journalist Details Lev Dermen Trial
Lev Dermen
During our interview with Carlisle, we inquired what bearing, if any, an admission corroborated by evidence proving that Dermen did in fact pay Saldivar these significant sums of money, would have on trial.
Isani Cayetano
“In the pretrial hearing, were you privy to any documents or any information that would have either suggested or concreted the idea that there was in fact communication between either Lev Dermen and John Saldivar or Jacob Kingston and John Saldivar? Did you see anything that would have substantiated any of these allegations?”
Nate Carlisle
Nate Carlisle, Reporter, Salt Lake Tribune
“Well, I think you’ve probably seen the court documents that have been made public in the United States. There’s a reference to text messages between Jacob Kingston and John Saldivar. It doesn’t say what the context of those messages were. When I was in a pretrial hearing on January thirteenth, the prosecutors discussed a little bit more and said that Jacob Kingston plans to testify about the cash payments that were being made. They didn’t elaborate much beyond that and I had forgotten about it until I looked at my notes this week and saw that reference to John Saldivar. I mean that’s how public corruption and monies are being discussed in this case, like allegedly bribing a minister in Belize didn’t ring that many bells with me until I wrote it down and then I saw it in my notes later.”
Isani Cayetano
“Is there anything else of interest, I know that the court recessed today and the hearing will resume sometime in next week, Monday or Tuesday, if I am not mistaken, but is there anything else of interest that you can share with us insofar as new developments?”
Nate Carlisle
“Well the trial resumes Monday here in Salt Lake City. Jacob Kingston is expected to testify sometime in the coming week, we’re not sure what day yet. They have several witnesses that they want to put on first but we think we’ll probably hear from Jacob Kingston by midweek and we’ll see if he actually says a lot in the courtroom that these payments were being made.”
Isani Cayetano
“What weight or what gravity would this revelation have on the case? I know you‘re following it closely and I know you‘re not perhaps a legal mind in that sense but what effect do you believe that this testimony would have on the overall trial against Lev Dermen?”
Nate Carlisle
“Well, I mean that‘s an interesting question. Again, Lev Dermen is not specifically charged with bribing anybody. He‘s charged with conspiracy and money laundering counts, so I guess the extent to which anything about John Saldivar is important is only if the jury believes that it’s an element of the conspiracy or helps to prove a conspiracy.”
