Grant Hildreth, his family and his attorney all believe that his sexual abuse conviction will be overturned on appeal. But against their protests, Hildreth will have to wait in prison while the process moves forward.

Hildreth's wife and two of his daughters testified on his behalf at the sentencing hearing, asking Mortensen to consider his ceaseless concern and generosity toward others, the strong morals he passed on to his six children and his devotion to his religion. They also asked Mortensen to allow Hildreth to remain free until his appeal is complete because of his family's dependence on him.

But deputy county attorney Alex Ludlow asked Mortensen to consider several other factors, and those appeared to sway the judge. On top of his recent conviction, Ludlow cited Hildreth's 1992 conviction for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old cousin in Montana, a sexual abuse investigation against him in Louisiana, and what he termed Hildreth's refusal to take responsibility for his actions. Mortensen assured the family that he was not sentencing Hildreth for anything other than the two charges he was convicted of in March.

"I see a lot of people in the course of my duties as a judge, and therefore I'm familiar with the fact that these convictions and the allegations that we have in other places are not the sum and substance of who you are," Mortensen told Hildreth. "I rarely see anyone I believe is completely evil."

Mortensen also scheduled a three-day trial for two more forcible sexual abuse charges stemming from the allegations of another former patient of Hildreth. Hildreth will stand trial on those two charges, as well as one count of witness tampering, on Sept. 29.

Carolyn Howard-Morris, Hildreth's defense attorney, described her client's fate as a great injustice and expressed confidence that the Utah Court of Appeals will overturn his conviction and order a new trial. Hildreth stood trial on six counts of forcible sexual abuse filed against him on the accusations of four former patients, but was only convicted on the allegations of one woman. Howard-Morris believes Mortensen should have severed the accusations of the different women into separate cases. The number of accusers who testified against Hildreth unfairly influenced the jury, she said. "They said to themselves, 'He can't be innocent on all of them. There's got to be merit in numbers,' " Howard-Morris said. "There was not a clear pattern on the charges, and that was evidenced by the jury's verdict." Mortensen, however, said he believed the appeal was unlikely to succeed.

Howard-Morris argued that Hildreth should not go to prison due to several mitigating circumstances, including his family's financial reliance on him, the eventual dismissal of his 1992 conviction, the fact that he passed a polygraph test and the vindictive nature of the victim's letter to Adult Probation and Parole in which she said she hoped Hildreth served the full "measly 15 years" in prison. The victim did not attend the hearing.

Hildreth's family spoke to the court, saying they believed he is innocent of the charges against him.

They spoke of his love for his family and how he selflessly goes out of his way to help the less-fortunate.

If the court had allowed them to serve as character witnesses, countless people would have been willing to testify on Hildreth's behalf, his family said, including many former patients and members of his daughters' basketball teams, which he coached. All of the girls he coached in the past 10 years believe there is no way he could have committed the crimes he was convicted of, they said.

"He loves helping people and he loves his family very much. He is not in any way the sexual criminal that he's been made out to be in the court," said his wife, Debbie.

"That's all people talk about is how much service my dad does," said Hildreth's daughter, Ashley.

Ludlow said the case was about two things: trust and responsibility.

His patients trusted him and he had a responsibility to them, Ludlow said, and he has never acknowledged that he did anything wrong.

The 1992 conviction was dismissed due to a Montana law that allows the dismissal of convictions for first-time offenders if they meet certain conditions. Hildreth told Mortensen that the victim in that case later apologized to him for lying about the alleged abuse, but that she never went back before the court with this confession because she was scared of her father, who had sexually abused her. Ludlow said he had no knowledge of the victim recanting her statement.

Ludlow also pointed out that when an APP official asked Hildreth if he had learned anything from the case, he replied, "Not to trust anyone."

"This individual is a sexual predator. Now, he is not the type of sexual predator that goes out and violently rapes and violently injures, but nonetheless he is a sexual predator," Ludlow said. "He takes advantage of his positions ... and uses them to fulfill some desire or need that he has."

Ludlow said a new accuser, a "young girl involved in athletics," has come forward with allegations against Hildreth since the trial, and that more charges may be pending. Howard-Morris said she plans to file her appeal on Monday. A previously filed appeal was dismissed on Thursday because the court cannot consider any appeal filed before a defendant is sentenced.

• Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it