BOISE, Idaho — A judge in eastern Idaho has dismissed a claim that accused former Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone of offering a business partner a $25,000 bribe to take the blame for an illegal elk hunting trip.

Judge Norman Randy Smith, of Idaho’s 6th District, tossed the accusation recently from a lawsuit filed by Sidney Ray Davis of Soda Springs.

Malone’s lawyer Randall Call called the ruling a vindication.

“The scurrilous and quite frankly irresponsible claims that were made about perjury and bribery that hit the news have all gone away,” he said.

Davis had alleged that Malone’s brother-in-law, Ken Kensey, “threatened physical violence” if Davis didn’t make a federal investigation into the illegal elk hunt “go away.”

According to the complaint, Kensey made the threats over lunch in Logan, Utah, in 1998. The suit alleged that the two-time NBA most valuable player again offered the $25,000 payment during a private meeting at an event for Navajo Santa, a charity for American Indians.

The judge allowed Davis to continue pursuing a $95,000 breach of contract claim against Malone’s Salt Lake City-based property management firm.

Malone has filed a countersuit against Davis for more than $100,000, Call said.

In 1997, Malone bought a commercial elk hunting business from Davis and pledged money to buy snowmobiles and make renovations at Davis’s Trail Creek Lodge, a sportsman cabin on the hunting property, said Jon Bial, Davis’ attorney in Hillsboro, Ore.

Davis alleges Malone broke their business contract.

“The (bribery) claim is out, but the behavior is not,” Bial said. “Any time you lose claims, it’s not what you’re hoping for. But the bulk of our claims will go forward.”

Malone’s lawyer Call said earlier that Malone and Davis met at a hunting exposition and became friends. Malone joined Davis, at one-time a licensed outfitter in Idaho’s Caribou County, for winter elk hunting trips.

On at least one outing in the fall of 1998, Davis did not have a state-issued elk tag for Malone. On that trip, Malone fired “into the snow” at a bull elk, but never hit the animal, Call said.

Enforcement officers from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and federal officials interviewed Malone, who said he thought Davis had proper outfitter permits.

Malone was never charged.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A8.

Newsletter