Polygamist David O. Kingston walked out of the Utah State Prison Tuesday, four years after being convicted of incest and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor for having sex with his 16-year-old niece after taking her as his 15th wife.
Kingston's sentence, which a 3rd District judge set at five years for each of the third-degree felony convictions, was terminated by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole last September. The termination of the sentence means Kingston will not be supervised by a parole officer, board administrator John Green said.
"If they terminated his sentence, he walks out of the prison a free man, he has no supervision, he's done," said Green. "It seems like there's evidence that he made good progress while he was in prison."
While in prison, Kingston, who has no other criminal history, completed a sex-offender therapy program, had volunteered as a tutor in the high-school program, worked as teacher's aide and had no disciplinary problems.
And last August, at a hearing before the board, Kingston acknowledged his responsibility for the crimes for the first time.
"I have been doing a lot of soul-searching while I've been in here . . . I want to tell (the victim) that I'm very sorry for the hurt and sorry I've caused her," Kingston said, adding that he would encourage others in the Kingston family to "follow the law."
David Kingston's 1999 conviction came after his brother, John Kingston, pleaded no contest to having beaten his 16-year-old daughter for fleeing her marriage to her uncle. John Kingston served 28 weeks in a Box Elder County jail for the offense.
Rowena Erickson, who was raised in the Kingston clan, says it's unrealistic to think David Kingston's conviction would alter the polygamist group's practice of marrying young girls.
"They haven't changed, none of the (polygamous) groups have, they are just more quiet," said Erickson, a co-founder of Tapestry Against Polygamy, a group that assists women who want to leave the lifestyle. "Young girls aren't being protected more now."
The Kingstons are members of the Latter-day Church of God, which reportedly has some 1,000 members and professes polygamy as part of its religious beliefs. The family also operates a $150 million business empire that operates in six Western states. Kingston was an accountant for the family business operations before going to prison.
Erickson disagrees with the board's decision not to order parole supervision.
"What it shows me that after all these years of Tapestry trying to educate these guys about these groups, they still don't get it." she said. "When (Kingston) he returns home, he's going to experience peer pressure . . . of course, he's going to be reintroduced to the lifestyle."
In recent years, prosecutors around the state have increased efforts to prosecute those who practice plural marriage and commit acts of child abuse within polygamous communities.
Then in 2002, Juab County polygamist Tom Green was convicted of a first-degree felony charge of child rape for fathering a child with a wife who was 13 at the time. That conviction followed another for bigamy and failing to pay back the state for child support. He is serving a five-to-life prison term on the child rape charge.
Attorneys will take their next case to court Aug. 15, in St. George, where Rodney Hans Holm is charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old and bigamy after allegedly taking a 16-year-old girl as his third wife and fathering two of her children. His legally recognized wife, Suzie Stubbs Holm, 36, has also been charged with two third degree felony counts for allegedly aiding and abetting the unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old and bigamy.
During the last legislative session, lawmakers passed HB307, a child bigamy law that makes it a second-degree felony if a married adult takes an additional spouse under the age of 18. A person convicted of child bigamy would face one to 15 years in prison.
E-mail: jdobner@desnews.com