Prosecutor Defends Probe Of Racial Harassment But It Took A Month To Issue An Arrest Warrant After Incident Near Idaho Falls

Bonneville County Prosecutor David Johnson disputes criticism that he moved too slowly to investigate a racially motivated confrontation in Idaho Falls this summer.

An investigation was launched within two weeks of the July 20 incident, and not because of any political pressure, Johnson said in a statement.

“My office is committed to enforcing the law, but will do so within the confines of the law,” he said. “No case will be filed solely for political advantage.”

Americus-John Lewis, local president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, reported that he and a co-worker were harassed July 20 while bicycling. Three white men in a van shouted racial insults and death threats at Lewis and his companion.

The prosecutors’ investigation produced an arrest warrant, filed late in August. One of the three men in the van was charged with malicious harassment. But the warrant came more than a month after the incident, and after the suspect left the area.

City officials last week said prosecutors could have moved more quickly on the case.

In a three-page statement, Johnson defended his office’s procedures.

The initial report on the incident was never sent to the prosecutor’s office, he said, and the first Bonneville County sheriff’s report does not refer to the incident as “a possible malicious harassment case.”

The sheriff’s office finished a follow-up to the first report a few days later, and the prosecutor’s office asked for an investigation on Aug. 1, Johnson said.

The investigation was hampered by witness accounts. Lewis said he could not identify the man who threatened him, Johnson said.

But Lewis still wonders why prosecutors did not move on the case sooner.

“Nobody wanted to talk to me,” he said.

By the time the prosecutor’s office began its investigation, Idaho Falls Mayor Linda Milam and the state attorney general’s office both had urged the county to act. But Johnson said that was not a factor.

“When the mayor contacted our office, we indicated that we appreciated her concerns and the matter was being looked at,” he said. “Nevertheless, she was firmly advised that this is a legal issue that would be legally addressed and was not subject to second-guessing by her or anyone else.”

The attorney general’s office also stepped in at Lewis’ urging, said Eric Cawley, a spokesman for Attorney General Alan Lance.

But Johnson said Lance’s office did not pressure prosecutors.

“The attorney general in no way advised us to file charges or to tell us how to proceed in this case,” he said.