Trial for San Juan County Sheriff and Deputies Will Stay in Monticello, Judge Rules

A district judge has denied a change of venue in a case involving charges against the sheriff of San Juan County, Utah, and two of his deputies. The San Juan Record reports that Seventh District Judge George Harmond ruled Tuesday that the trial will take place in District Court in Monticello rather than in Salt Lake City. Sheriff Rick Eldredge, Chief Deputy Alan Freestone, and Deputy Robert J. Wilcox were charged in June with various counts relating to a 2015 incident in which Eldredge allegedly pointed an unloaded rifle at an employee and pulled the trigger. Prosecutors had argued that they would not receive a fair and impartial trial in Monticello.