BRIGHAM CITY -- Polygamist leader John Daniel Kingston will spend the next 28 weeks in the Box Elder County Jail, but his jail time could be reduced if he apologizes to his teenage daughter and takes responsibility for beating her.
In a statement read Tuesday to 1st District Judge Ben Hadfield by the girl's guardian ad litem attorney, the girl said her father has yet to do either. She said she loves her father but has concern and feels pain over his actions."I had always counted on him as my father to be my protector. He was my idol," the 17-year-old said in her statement.
"However, I cannot feel safe until I know he admits he has done wrong. And I am afraid for the other members of my family who will know what he did and that he has not said it was wrong. They will know that he can do it again because he doesn't believe what he did was wrong."
Kingston, 44, pleaded no contest in April to child abuse, a third-degree felony, for belt-whipping his then 16-year-old daughter after she fled from an arranged polygamous marriage to his brother last year.
In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped a count of child abuse, a second-degree felony. The plea also prevented the girl from testifying against her father.
At his sentencing Tuesday, Kingston told the judge he loves his daughter very much, but he did not admit to the crime.
"I didn't want her to go through the embarrassment of a trial," he said. "This has been a difficult but growing experience for me. . . . I'm sorry for the pain and suffering that I have caused her and anyone else."
Hadfield sentenced Kingston to serve up to five years in prison but placed him on probation with the conditions that he serve 28 weeks in jail, pay a $2,700 fine and restitution, and complete anger management counseling. Kingston could receive work release privileges in two weeks if recommended by Adult Probation and Parole.
The judge said he would consider reducing the jail time if Kingston submits a written apology to his daughter and admits to the crime.
Kingston arrived at the sentencing about 15 minutes late, accompanied by about 15 family members. His attorney, Ron Yengich, urged the judge to treat Kingston as he would similar offenders and to overlook the "many undercurrents" of the case.
"He is a good provider," Yengich said.
Former Kingston clan member Rowena Erickson and member of the anti-polygamy group Tapestry of Polygamy said she doubts the sentence will have much impact on abusive polygamists but might encourage some members of polygamist groups to speak out.
"I don't think it will change anything other than the fact that they are going to band together harder," she said. "But my inner self tells me there's something going on causing people to stand up and acknowledge what they really already know."
According to prosecutors, on the night of May 22, 1998, Kingston took his daughter to a family ranch in Box Elder County and beat her with a belt. The girl counted 28 blows before she fainted.
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.
At the end of a three-day trial June 3, an all-male jury found David Kingston, 33, guilty of incest and unlawful sexual conduct, both third-degree felonies, for having sex with his niece. The girl testified that she became his 15th wife on Oct. 15, 1997.
At the same time, the jury found David Kingston not guilty of two additional counts of incest.
David Kingston is scheduled for sentencing July 9 before 3rd District Judge David Young.
The girl, identified as M.K., testified during the trial that she was married to her uncle in a secret ceremony conducted by her father, John Daniel Kingston, at a West Salt Lake church. The two then had sexual intercourse in January, March, April and May 1998, she said.
The jury, however, found reasonable doubts about the January and April incidents and acquitted him of those two charges.
The cases against the Kingston brothers have put the spotlight on the practice of polygamy in Utah and other parts of the West, where an estimated 25,000 to 35,000 polygamists reside.
The trials also focused attention on the Kingston family, which has built an estimated $150 million business empire in six Western states. Authorities figure their group, the Latter Day Church of God, has about 800 members and owns land and businesses in Utah, Idaho, California, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado.