An American Fork chiropractor who was convicted of sexually abusing a former employee is appealing his sentence, saying that the court erred in lumping the allegations of four accusers into one trial.

Carolyn Howard-Morris, the defense attorney for Grant Joel Hildreth, said the six counts of forcible sexual abuse should have been severed into four cases, one for each accuser. Hildreth, 45, of Riverton, was convicted of two counts of forcible sex abuse stemming from the allegations of a former employee, but a jury acquitted him of four other charges.

Howard-Morris said Hildreth was convicted of guilt by association.

"You tell me, if you're on a jury and you see four women coming forward accusing the same person, you're going to find him guilty of something. That's exactly what they did. But if there's one [accuser], he's going to be found not guilty by the facts alone," she said.

Howard-Morris said she believes Hildreth will be found not guilty in a new trial if the previous conviction is overturned on appeal.

Deputy county attorney Alex Ludlow said Hildreth's appeal is without merit, and believes it will be denied. Even if the case had been split into four trials, he said, the prosecution still would have had all accusers testify at each one.

"We are showing that there's a pattern of misconduct and it wasn't an isolated incident. The rules clearly allow us to bring that evidence in," Ludlow said.

Howard-Morris disputed Ludlow's argument.

"If there is, in fact, a pattern, then wouldn't it be reasonable to think that the jury would've convicted on all charges? But they didn't," she said. "They found him guilty only on two. That's why we think (the conviction) is going to be overturned."

Hildreth appeared in American Fork's 4th District Court on Monday, three days after a warrant was issued for his arrest. Judge David Mortensen issued the warrant after Hildreth didn't show up for a sentencing hearing on Friday, but the warrant was withdrawn after attorneys realized that Hildreth and Howard-Morris missed the hearing due to a scheduling error.

"On behalf of Dr. Hildreth, we want everyone to know he is not a flight risk," Howard-Morris said.

Ludlow agreed that Friday's misunderstanding did not indicate that Hildreth was a flight risk, and felt that the $20,000 bail that Mortensen imposed on Monday was adequate to ensure that Hildreth will attend his sentencing hearing on May 30.

A jury convicted Hildreth on two counts of forcible sex abuse after a former employee testified that he fondled her while providing treatment for a bladder infection at his American Fork office. Three other employees testified that he fondled them during massages at his office and at his Riverton home, but the jury found him not guilty on those charges.

Ludlow said he plans to ask for prison time for Hildreth. Forcible sex abuse is a second-degree felony that is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Hildreth was convicted in 1992 of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in Beaverhead County, Mont., and was denied reinstatement of his chiropractic license in Idaho in the mid-1990s because of the conviction, according to Ludlow.

Ludlow said the Utah County Attorney's Office may still seek to prosecute Hildreth on three other counts of forcible sex abuse that were severed from this case. Those counts deal with allegations made by two other patients. Ludlow said his office will wait to see the outcome of Hildreth's sentencing before making a decision on those charges.

• Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or jduda@heraldextra.com.