Judge orders husband of Bluffdale mayor to stand trial over threats

BLUFFDALE — The husband of Bluffdale Mayor Natalie Hall was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on charges accusing him of threatening her political opponent during the 2021 election.

Third District Judge Paul B. Parker said he heard enough evidence to send the case to a jury concerning allegations that the Bluffdale mayor’s husband, Jason Christopher Hall, physically assaulted Bluffdale City Councilman Jeffrey Gaston at a park, sent at least three threatening letters to him and attempted to influence the councilman’s actions.

Gaston dropped out of the race for Bluffdale mayor in 2021 because of those threats, prosecutors say.

Husband of Bluffdale mayor pleads not guilty

Hall, 48, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to two felonies, threatening elected officials and assault. He also pleaded not guilty to stalking and threatening to influence an official action. Those are both class A misdemeanors.

Thomas Russell, a special agent with the Utah Attorney General’s Office assigned to the case, testified there were threatening contents in anonymous letters sent by Bluffdale Mayor Hall’s husband, who is charged with sending emails to Gaston anonymously and also hiring an employee to deliver letters and packages to him.

Russell said they learned Hall sent the emails by working with Google to identify the IP address. Russell said that later, Hall admitted to sending the emails.

The Utah Attorney General’s office concluded the letters and packages were connected to each other and to Hall. The connecting feature was a consistent missing “W” for west in the address and some similar language, like “paper thin skin.”

He said the letters contained either threats or veiled threats asking Gaston to leave Bluffdale and to pull out of the race. A return address to Salt Lake Axe Throwing Club could be considered a threat, Russell said, because it shows whoever sent the package throws axes.

Please read Emily Ashcraft’s entire story at KSL.com.