By Kira Cluff
A Utah County attorney received a 63-month sentence and a $10,000 fine Wednesday for harboring a fugitive client and disposing of stolen property.
The jury also found that Orem resident Dean Zabriskie, 60, concealed and disposed of more than $5,000 in stolen goods, taken by Zabriskie”s client Gerry Curtis Branagan in several burglaries.
Zabriskie and his 34-year-old son, Slade, faced U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell in a sentencing hearing originally scheduled for mid-September.
According to a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney”s Office, Zabriskie and his son were sentenced for harboring and concealing Branagan from local authorities.
Melody Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney”s Office, said during that time, the fugitive committed more than 300 crimes and accumulated more than $100,000 of stolen property.
Although Zabriskie faced a potential 15-year sentence, U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell said she imposed the lowest prison terms allowed under federal mandate.
Campbell sentenced Slade Zabriskie to 41 months in prison and 300 hours of community service.
The pair has remained in custody since their July convictions after Campbell determined they were a flight risk. Wednesday she again declined to release them pending a Bureau of Prison meeting that will decide where they will serve time, but agreed to recommend their transfer to the closest facility available – Nellis Federal Prison in Nevada.
Zabriskie”s client, arrested in San Diego in April 1999, had been a fugitive from the law since his 1995 conviction on child sex abuse offenses.
Branagan was convicted in absentia and sentenced to five years in prison.
According to court documents, Zabriskie was present in court when a Utah warrant was issued for Branagan”s arrest. A federal warrant for unlawful flight also was issued. Four years later Branagan was arrested in San Diego. He has since pleaded guilty to burglary, firearms offenses and theft in California.
The jury sitting in on the Zabriskie cases found while Branagan was evading capture, the Zabriskies knowingly protected their client from arrest.
During the trial, Zabriskie admitted he moved 18 – 22 firearms from California to Utah after Branagan was arrested. Prosecutors said a search of Zabriskie”s home turned up stolen cash, paintings, jewelry, gemstones and glass figurines.
Slade Zabriskie”s defense attorney, David Turcotte, said his client was “a gofer” in his father””s office, reports the Salt Lake Tribune.
“He never truly understood the gravity or the consequences of what he was doing,” Turcotte said.
Zabriskie is the lead partner of Zabriskie & Associates, a Provo law firm.
Should Zabriskie decide to return to practice in the state of Utah he will have a difficult road to travel.
John Baldwin, executive director of the Utah State Bar Association, said they are currently investigating a complaint into Zabriskie”s professional misconduct. Zabriskie stands to lose his license to practice law if the investigation upholds allegations of professional wrongdoing.
Although Zabriskie has the right to reapply to the Utah Bar Association for a renewal of his license five years from the time it”s revoked, he will have to prove to a panel of his peers that he should be entitled to represent people, Baldwin said.
“It will be difficult because people will remember,” Baldwin said.
After Ron Yengich, Slade Zabriskie”s defense attorney, complained they have had no “meaningful contact” with family members in months, Campbell allowed them a short visit with relatives.
