LOGAN -- Despite pleading no contest to a reduced child abuse charge Wednesday, John Daniel Kingston did not admit that he had belt-whipped his daughter after she ran away from an arranged polygamous marriage to his brother last year.
Instead, in a soft, stoic voice, the 43-year-old polygamist leader told 1st District Judge Ben Hadfield he was acting in the best interest of his 17-year-old daughter, who is living in a foster home."I feel like this has gone on too long," Kingston said. "The court has offered me this no contest plea. After seeing (my daughter) here, I feel like it would be in her best interest not to put her through more than what she has already gone through."
By pleading no contest to child abuse, a third-degree felony, Kingston brought an abrupt end to a three-day trial for a heftier charge of child abuse, a second-degree felony. Instead of facing up to 15 years in prison, Kingston could be ordered to serve up to five years at his sentencing, set for June 29 in Brigham City.
"I will treat your no contest plea as if it were a guilty plea in all respects," Hadfield said.
Prosecutor Jon Bunderson said the plea agreement, struck in the middle of jury selection, was similar to an offer prosecutors made to Kingston several weeks ago. During the lunch recess Wednesday, Kingston sent his daughter a note, which apparently convinced her to agree to his plea. The girl later wept while her father addressed the court.
"(The daughter) became emotional toward the end of this process, which included her reading that note from him," Bunderson said. "Our position in making this particular offer was that in the long run we don't think it's going to make that much difference in the punishment that he ultimately receives."
By pleading no contest, Kingston was in essence admitting that prosecutors could prove the crime, Bunderson said, and it saved the victim from having to go through the trial.
"I'm hoping it sends a message that people who mistreat children are going to suffer the consequences," he said.
Prosecutors had evidence that the night of May 22, Kingston took his then 16-year-old daughter to a family ranch in Box Elder County and beat her with a belt. "She counted 28 (blows) before she fainted," Bunderson said.
After escaping two days later, the girl told police her father had beaten her because she had run away from an arranged polygamous marriage to David Ortell Kingston, John Kingston's younger brother.
David Kingston, 33, is scheduled for a three-day trial in Salt Lake City beginning June 1 on charges of incest and sexual abuse of a minor, third-degree felonies, for incidents involving the same girl.
Defense attorney Ron Yengich said his client had been ready for trial and that he was surprised that John Kingston decided to plea at the last possible moment.
"That's what he wanted to do; it's not my choice," Yengich said. "The people that are most important in this case, which are the defendant and the alleged victim, basically decided they were going to settle it."
On his way out the courtroom, Kingston repeated the same statement he had made in court but deferred additional questions to his attorney when asked if he had apologized to his daughter.
"Did he apologize to her? He communicated to her with a note," Yengich said. "What the note said is between the two of them."
Box Elder County sheriff's detective Scott Cosgrove said the daughter "still has some fight in her, and she wanted her father to admit to the charge and say he's sorry." But she also "wants to get this taken care of and on with her life.
"There is possibly pressure from the family now, saying, 'Take care of this, which should have been done months ago, and we shouldn't be here today.' But that's my personal feeling," Cosgrove said.
Bunderson stopped short of calling polygamy the motive for the beating, saying it was the backdrop for the case.
"This isn't anything other than a child abuse case," he said.
"I think that (polygamy) is the sexy aspect of it, using that in the broadest term," Yengich said. "Obviously there are overtones with other issues because of statements that were made in the police reports and the feeling that have been engendered by people who have been participating on the periphery."
Anti-polygamy supporters attending the proceedings called Kingston's plea a victory that could open the way for other women who may feel trapped in polygamous families.
"Now, girls and women can realize that they can use the justice system, that they have power . . . they don't have to be victims," said Carmen Thompson, executive director of Tapestry of Polygamy, a group of ex-polygamous wives striving to help others who want to leave polygamy.
"I feel absolutely wonderful because it's an admission, at least, of what he actually did," said Rowenna Erickson, a former polygamous wife in the Kingston family. "I know this girl really did something for a lot of people, she's opened the way for other girls.
"I bless her for what she's done."