FOURTH DISTRICT JUDGE CHARGED WITH DRUG USE, POSSESSION

In an unusual prosecution, a state judge has been charged with possession
and use of heroin and cocaine.

Fourth District Judge Ray Harding Jr. -- arrested two months ago at his
Highland home after his wife called 911 to summon police -- was charged
Monday with two third-degree felonies.

The charges are based on drugs allegedly seized from and around Harding's
home on July 13, after police arrested Harding, as well as hair samples
taken from the 48-year-old jurist.

Harding's hair "tested positive for both cocaine and heroin," said Kirk
Torgensen, chief deputy of the Utah Attorney General's criminal division,
during a Monday news conference.

Torgensen added that drug residue remains in the hair weeks to months
longer than in blood and urine. But he said he had no specific information
about the duration of Harding's alleged drug use.

However, information from police and in search warrant documents provides
some indications about Harding's alleged drug use.

Harding's wife complained to police that her husband had been up all night
using heroin and cocaine and "acting out of control." She handed officers a
bag containing one-sixteenth ounce of white powder that field-tested
positive for cocaine.

Police found more drugs, as well as paraphernalia used to ingest drugs,
according to a search warrant return. A self-help book for cocaine addicts
titled Hope, Faith and Courage was found in the master bedroom.

Despite the intense interest in the case, Torgensen said his office is
striving to treat Harding no more harshly nor any more leniently than any
other alleged drug offender.

And, as with any other first-time offender, plea negotiations may be
explored, Torgensen said. Each count is punishable by up to 5 years in
prison, but most first offenders are sentenced to complete probation and
drug treatment programs.

The charges were filed in Provo's 4th District Court, but Harding's first
court appearance is before Salt Lake City's 3rd District Judge Timothy
Hanson on Sept. 16.

Because Harding was booked into jail, appeared before a judge and was freed
on $10,000 bail in July, prosecutors did not file a probable cause
statement -- details about the crime that a judge uses to justify issuing
an arrest warrant.

Harding's defense attorney Edward Brass could not be reached for comment.
Torgensen said his office had spoken with Brass, but had not interviewed
Harding.

Recently elected presiding judge of the 4th District Court, Harding was
suspended from his judicial duties by the Utah Supreme Court, pending the
outcome of the criminal case.

Fellow judges have assumed Harding's caseload, but his absence has put a
strain on the system. Discussion of the 4th District Court's workload
problems was listed on today's agenda for the Utah Judicial Council.

Meanwhile, defense attorneys Michael Esplin and Shelden Carter recently
filed requests for reviews of criminal cases Harding was overseeing during
the months before his arrest.

"We question whether [Harding] was under the influence or affected by his
alleged use of drugs," Esplin said Monday. "We admit at this point we
really don't know, because nobody's releasing any information."

The defense requests seek information about Harding's alleged drug use, and
also seek to put their clients' fraud cases on hold until that information
is made available.

In the months before his arrest, Harding had ruled against Esplin and
Carter's clients on motions to suppress evidence and to dismiss their charges.

Esplin said he happened to be in Harding's courtroom the day before the
judge was arrested and thought the judge looked ill.

"I asked him on the record if he was feeling well," Esplin recalled. "I
didn't necessarily attribute it to anything other than maybe he had a
migraine. The judge answered, 'Is it that obvious?' "

But Esplin said the judge shrugged it off, remarking that "sometimes you
have to come to court and muddle through" despite not feeling well. "The
next morning, he was arrested," Esplin said. "I did not suspect anything of
that magnitude."

Colin Winchester, executive director of the Judicial Conduct Commission --
a judicial watchdog agency -- said he was barred from saying whether
Harding was under investigation.

But Winchester noted that being charged, or even convicted, of a felony
does not spell "automatic anything" for a judge. "Conviction of a felony is
one criteria for which a judge can be disciplined," he said.