Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office Files Assault Charges in 2014 Attack

Salt Lake City, UT -- Today, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office filed a Class A misdemeanor and a Class B misdemeanor assault charge against Eric Levi Johnson and Chad Ryan Doak for the Dec. 21, 2014 assault against two men in Salt Lake City. As outlined in more detail in the attached statement of probable cause, it is alleged that as Rusty Andrade and Maxwell Christen walked home, the Defendants attacked Mr. Andrade and Mr. Christen and yelled homophobic slurs at the men.

The charges in this case reflect the alleged physical injuries sustained by the victims. But the law does not provide a means to capture the full measure of the alleged harm to the victims and the community.

Under current Utah law, committing a crime against a person because of his or her sexual orientation is not a hate crime. Similarly, under current Utah State law, it is not a hate crime to assault someone because of their religion, race, ethnicity, etc. Also, even if these allegations constituted a hate crime, current law provides for an assault to be enhanced only up to a Class A misdemeanor. Since the allegations in this case already rise to the level of a Class A misdemeanor, any hate crime enhancement under the law cannot be applied and would have no effect.

Consequently, the District Attorney's Office has charged the defendants with offenses under the law it believes are supported by probable cause and have a reasonable likelihood of success at trial.

All persons accused of a crime are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

See attached statement of probable cause for more information.