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An 11th-hour attempt to recuse a judge presiding over the fraud and money laundering trial of Marc Sessions Jenson — a key figure in the Utah Attorney General's office pay-to-play scandal — was denied late Monday.

Defense attorney Marcus Mumford's motion seeking an evidentiary hearing isn't allowed under court rules and, "moreover" the document and its attached declaration "on their face don't meet the standard for disqualification," Deno Himonas, the 3rd District Court's associate presiding judge said in a ruling.

Mumford sought an evidentiary hearing to ferret out whether remarks made by Mark Shurtleff to a process server were proof that the former attorney general had inside information or knowledge" about the likelihood he would have to testify during Jenson's trial, which began Monday afternoon with jury selection.

According to Mumford's motion, when served with a subpoena on Dec. 30, Shurtleff told the process server, "Hruby isn't going to give Marcus [Mumford] anything in this matter, anyway." Mumford claims the remark, in reference to the case's trial judge, Elizabeth Hruby-Mills, triggered the need for an evidentiary hearing.

In a declaration included in Mumford's motion, process server Chad Bennion, who claims to know Shurtleff from previous encounters, described Shurtleff's manner as "dismissive of the subpoena" and odd.

"It also struck me as intentionally disrespectful and dismissive of the Court, as he did not identify or refer to the Court as "Judge" or even "Hruby-Mills," but rather referred to the court as "Hruby" in a very familiar manner and tone," Bennion's declaration states.

Shurtleff and former Utah attorney general John Swallow are both trying to duck subpoenas demanding they testify at the trial of Jenson, 54, and his brother, Stephen Roger Jenson, 45, who are accused of multiple crimes in connection with a failed Beaver County resort development.

Delayed by Mumford's last-minute legal wrangling, jury selection in the nine-day trial began shortly after 3 p.m. Monday. The selection process is scheduled to continue on Tuesday.

The Jenson brothers face multiple counts of communications fraud and money laundering — charges that late last week were reduced from first- to second-degree felonies.

Both men have pleaded not guilty to the crimes. If convicted, they face up to 15 years in prison on each second-degree felony count.

Prosecutors allege the brothers — who tried to turn the former Elk Meadows ski area into a $3.5 billion development with ritzy homes, a private ski mountain and a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course — failed to disclose required information to investors, including that Marc Jenson had served time in prison for not paying taxes and had filed for bankruptcy.

Lawyers for the Jensons maintain the project was a legitimate enterprise that fell apart when the New York-based hedge fund that had backed the resort plan cut off funding, leaving the Jensons unable see it through.

Marc Jenson has played a key role in the pay-to-play scandal, which swirled around Shurtleff and Swallow for two years and saw both men charged with bribery and corruption crimes in July 2014.

Jenson, who is already behind bars on securities violations, alleged in 2013 that the two squeezed him for cash, favors and luxury treatment at the businessman's Southern California villa.

Last week, attorneys for both Shurtleff and Swallow filed objections to subpoenas with the court, citing Fifth Amendment grounds. Twice in 2014, Hruby-Mills ruled that neither Swallow nor Shurtleff could be compelled to testify during the Jensons' trial.

Mumford subpoenaed both anyway, along with other current and former employees of the Utah attorney general's office and several Mount Holly investors.