This ex-Canyon County prosecutor tried to serve a shorter jail sentence. It didn’t work

CALDWELL (Idaho Statesman) – The Idaho Supreme Court has denied a former Canyon County prosecutor’s request to receive credit for partial days he spent in jail on a criminal conviction.

John T. Bujak pleaded guilty in 2022 to stealing over $10,000 from a family member, the Statesman previously reported. Bujak was then sentenced to pay $10,000 in restitution by 2026 and to spend 30 days in jail. He was also placed on five years’ probation and permitted to keep working as a truck driver so he could make restitution payments.

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Bujak defeated incumbent Prosecuting Attorney Dave Young in the May 2008 Republican primary election, faced no opponent that November and took office in January 2009. He resigned less than two years later, on Sept. 30, 2010, after he could not pay back $300,000 that county commissioners said he owed to Canyon County. They had appropriated the money to a misdemeanor-prosecution fund and placed it under Bujak’s sole control.

Bujak was charged with two counts of grand theft, a complaint that was then amended to felony misuse of public funds, in 2011. He was later acquitted. But the incident led to additional charges on other matters. Between 2012 and 2014 he stood trial five times on felony charges, though no jury found him guilty, the Statesman previously reported.

In 2014, Bujak ran for governor as a Libertarian, drawing 4% of the vote. In 2015, he gave up his law license after an Idaho State Bar complaint sought to disbar him.

Allowed by the judge in the family-member theft case to serve his sentence in intervals, Bujak chose to work during the week and spend his jail time on weekends. On his first stay, he was in the Ada County jail from Friday morning to Sunday morning.

Bujak expected to be held on Friday and Saturday and receive credit for two days. Serving until Sunday morning, Bujak argued that he should receive credit for three.

District Judge James S. Cawthon denied Bujak’s request, saying that he should receive one day of credit every 24-hour period served, and that he had been released after about 48 hours. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the district court’s decision.