Utah- from www.sltrib.com – Few political careers rose so quickly and ended so abruptly as that of Ted Cannon, the former Salt Lake County attorney and rising star in the Utah Republican Party before a sexual harassment and official misconduct scandal forced him out of politics and landed him in jail for 25 days.

But Cannon, who died last month at the age of 77 in the Philippines, also had a legacy of impressive victories as a criminal prosecutor and the staunch loyalty of his staff and other elected county officials before a later-diagnosed mental illness led to his eventual fall from grace.

Cannon died June 2, but his daughter Melissa Lauro said complications led to the delay of his remains being returned to Utah. Lauro said her father was in the Philippines on “an extended vacation.” The family will hold a memorial graveside service in the Salt Lake City Cemetery on Saturday, which would have been his 78th birthday, at 11 a.m.

Cannon, born July 18, 1931, in Salt Lake City, followed an unusual career path, working in the Newspaper Agency Corporation as a printer, linotype operator and layout specialist for The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News for nearly 20 years before deciding to go to law school at the age of 40.

He graduated from the University of Utah Law School in 1974 and immediately began making headlines as a ferocious anti-pornography crusader in his new job as an assistant prosecutor in the Salt Lake City Attorney’s Office.

He aggressively targeted several theaters in Salt Lake City that ran X-rated films such as “Deep Throat” and “Behind the Green Door.”

Cannon would take judges and police detectives with him to watch the movies, then point out the features that made them illegal under city ordinances and usually get a judge to sign an order confiscating the film reels and citing the theater operator.

His efforts eventually led to a city ordinance banning X-rated films in Salt Lake City theaters.

He then joined the Utah Attorney General’s Office where again he specialized in pornography and obscenity prosecutions before winning the County Attorney’s Office in 1978.

Cannon was easily re-elected in 1982 and considered a possible Republican candidate for attorney general before a scandal erupted in his office in 1986.

He was accused by a secretary of sexual harassment. Other allegations surfaced, including criminal libel, misuse of public funds and official misconduct.

A grand jury issued several indictments against Cannon, who eventually was convicted of the misdemeanor criminal libel charge and pleaded no contest to other misdemeanors.

During the course of the investigation against Cannon, he was diagnosed with a bi-polar disorder and the probation agreement reached with prosecutors required him to stay on medication.

Before Cannon’s fall, he was praised for his office’s prosecution of polygamist and accused murder conspirator Ervil LeBaron. Cannon hired Democrat and political foe David Yocom to be the special prosecutor in the case and his office won a conviction against LeBaron. Later, Yocom would succeed Cannon as county attorney.

Cannon’s office also began the investigation that pieced together the case against serial bomber and documents forger Mark Hofmann, who eventually pleaded guilty to murder charges after Yocom took over the job.

“Ted assembled an excellent corps of prosecutors and created a top-notch professional office,” said John T. Nielsen, who was Cannon’s chief deputy. “He was one of the brightest guys I knew. He built his name prosecuting pornography cases, he had the smarts and he had the political connections to do very well in politics, had he just been able to deal with his difficulties.”

Cannon’s office also prosecuted high-profile murder cases against Frances Schreuder, who was convicted of ordering her son to kill her millionaire father for the inheritance, and Joseph Paul Franklin, who gunned down two African American men because they were jogging near Liberty Park with two white women.

After Cannon left office at the end of his second term, he disappeared from public life and ended up living on disability payments.