WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (KUTV) — A multi-million dollar lawsuit could leave taxpayers holding the bill as the plaintiffs accuse the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office – the West Valley City Police Department and multiple people in those organizations including the District Attorney himself, Sim Gill of trying to railroad a 14-year-old boy. The federal civil rights lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah and seeks a minimum of $20 million dollars for allegedly violating the teen boy’s constitutional rights. 2News Investigates has spent more than a year deeply reporting on the prosecution and incarceration of Emiliano.
The 63-page civil complaint, known as a “Section 1983 Claim,” that provides a legal remedy when a person acting under the authority of state law violates a plaintiff’s federally protected rights was filed by attorneys Scott Young and Nathan Evershed for Emiliano’s mother on behalf of her son. It alleges a series of decisions amounted to “malicious prosecution” of Emiliano which led to him being “improperly incarcerated” for over a year. The defendants from the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office named in their individual capacity include Sim Gill, Anna Rossi Anderson, Adrianna Davis, and Josh Graves. West Valley City police detectives Josue Llil and Jeff Nelson are also named individually. Salt Lake County and the City of West Valley are defendants listed as governmental entities.
Emiliano was 14 years old on August 17, 2023, when 24-year-old Niusami Auelua, an Adult Probation and Parole fugitive who had extremely high levels of methamphetamine in his system rode up to a car Emiliano was sitting in with a gun and demanded money. Emiliano says he stabbed Auelua, in self-defense. Auelua fled after robbing Emiliano of his backpack, then collapsed and died in the park…