Federal prosecutors used an untried federal law to nail three members of the Ervil LeBaron polygamist clan for the murders of four people in Texas.
The tactic worked. A Houston jury Wednesday returned guilty verdicts against William Heber LeBaron, Patricia LeBaron and Doug Barlow for the June 1988 murders of three former clan members and an 8-year-old girl.The jury returned guilty verdicts on civil rights, racketeering and conspiracy charges. It returned a not-guilty verdict on a weapons charge.
The jury Thursday also convicted them on three murder-for-hire counts. But that verdict was immediately overturned by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake. He said last week that he had some concerns about the murder-for-hire charges.
Thursday morning, the jury asked for transcripts of several testimonies relating to the murder-for-hire charges.
Wednesday's guilty verdicts will likely mean life sentences for the three defendants, said assistant U.S. Attorney David Schwen-di-man.
The guilty verdicts may prompt Utah prosecutors to think twice about prosecuting some of the same defendants for the Oct. 16, 1987, murder of clan renegade Dan Jordan.
Jordan was gunned down during a deer hunting trip in Sanpete County. "It's likely these people will be sentenced to life in prison without parole," Schwendiman said. "If that's the case, we may not want to try another murder case just to get another life sentence."
Schwendiman will bring the evidence used in the Texas case back to Utah with him, and prosecutors here will review it before deciding on the Jordan case.
Schwendiman joined two federal prosecutors from Texas in prosecuting the three during a seven-day trial in front of 12 jurors. A fourth defendant, Richard LeBaron, plead guilty earlier to murder-for-hire charges. Two others indicted for the murders - Aaron and Tarsa LeBaron - have not been arrested yet. They are believed to be hiding in Mexico.
Mark Chynoweth, 36; his brother Duane, 31; Duane's daughter Jennifer, 8; and Eddie Marston, 33; were gunned down minutes apart at three Texas sites shortly after 4 p.m. on June 27, 1988. The execution-style killings were done on the exact anniversary - down to the hour - of the murder of Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mark Chynoweth was shot in the head at 4 p.m. at Reliance Appliances, a Houston appliance store where he worked. Seven minutes later, his brother Duane and Duane's daughter, Jennie, were picking up an appliance at a vacant home when they were gunned down. All three were killed with shotgun blasts.
At 4 p.m., at another vacant house 200 miles to the north, Marston was injured with a .45-caliber gunshot to the head and chest. He died a few hours later.
But vagaries in Texas law banned prosecutors from charging the suspected killers with murder. So prosecutors hinged their case on an untried civil rights law that became effective June 24, 1988 - just three days before the murders.
The law: violent obstruction of the free exercise of religion.
"In order to charge that offense, you have to have the permission of the U.S. attorney general," explained Schwendiman. Former U.S. Attorney William Barr authorized Texas prosecutors to seek indictments on the civil rights offense when he learned they couldn't go to trial on murder charges.
"These are the first convictions in the country on that statute," Schwen-diman said.
It is, perhaps, fitting that prosecutors used an unorthodox law to deliver what they hope will be a crippling blow to an unorthodox clan responsible for at least 19 murders in as many years.
The clan's leader, Ervil LeBaron, died in the Utah State Prison in 1981 while serving life sentence for masterminding the 1977 murder of polygamist rival Rulon Allred.
But he left for his children a legacy of hatred, murder and a book - "The Book of New Covenant" - that told them exactly whom to kill and why.
Prosecutors used this book to argue for a guilty verdict on the three murder-for-hire counts.
Even prosecutors admit theirs is a bizarre spin on the murder-for-hire crime. "In the traditional murder-for-hire case, you pay someone $1 million to go kill someone, and when they come back, you give them the money."
But Ervil LeBaron didn't promise his children cash for killing the enemies of his church. He promised them the kingdom of God and all of the wealth on the Earth, Schwendiman said.
In his book, Ervil LeBaron told his children and followers they must kill those considered to be sons of perdition and traitors of his church, The Church of the Lamb of God, Schwendiman said. LeBaron had 13 wives and 65 children that investigators know about.
LeBaron told his family and followers that until the sons of perdition are killed, the kingdom of God can-not come to Earth, Schwen-di-man said.
Then he went on to promise them that once the kingdom of God comes to Earth, they will be stewards of the kingdom and, as such, "possessors of all the material wealth on the Earth," Schwen-di-man said.
"It's a roundabout way to say if you kill, you can have anything you want."
Cynthia LeBaron told the jury her father promised his children they could have "everything from toys to tanks" once the kingdom of God arrived.
"We believe that has sufficient value to meet the requirements of the murder-for-hire statute," Schwen-diman said.
LeBaron also told his children that the only way traitors and sons of perdition could be saved is through their own murders, Schwen-di-man said.
The jury Thursday asked to review transcripts of testimonies given by Salt Lake County assistant chief investigator Dick Forbes and Cindy and Tony LeBaron, Schwendiman said.