Lu Ann Kingston says she has created a new life for herself after escaping a forced polygamous marriage at age 15 to her cousin, who also is her nephew.
Kingston, now 24, also is satisfied that her former polygamous husband, Jeremy Ortell Kingston, will spend a year in the Salt Lake County Jail for third-degree felony incest.
"I know that it scares them," Lu Ann Kingston said, referring to taking on the extensive and wealthy Kingston polygamous clan by appealing to secular law enforcement agencies and the courts.
"I came here to say something to all the Kingston men — that incest is a crime and they are not above the law," she said Monday, adding that she hopes she will be an example to other child brides pressured into "spiritual marriages" in polygamous communities.
Third District Judge Michael Burton on Monday sentenced Jeremy Kingston to zero to five years in prison, but suspended the prison time and ordered the jail sentence. The judge also ordered 36 months of probation, required Kingston to undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation and take part in a treatment program for sex offenders.
"I recognize the harm I've caused Lu Ann," Jeremy Kingston said in court. "I would like to tell her I am truly sorry for the mistakes I have made."
However, Kingston went on to say he and his family have suffered, particularly at the hands of the media, since the criminal case was filed.
"My family knows what it's like to be hated," he said. "My family has suffered many persecutions."
Carl Kingston, Jeremy Kingston's lawyer, asked the judge to consider electronic monitoring or a jail work-release program so Jeremy Kingston can support his children.
"Jail time wouldn't serve any purpose," Carl Kingston said.
Jeremy Kingston, now 32, said although he was 24 and Lu Ann was 15 when they entered into a "spiritual marriage" in 1995, it was she who pursued him and they fell in love.
That brought a sharp retort from Assistant Attorney General Polly Samuels, who said Lu Ann Kingston was reared in a culture that gave her no choices and she was pushed by relatives and religious leaders into the union solely to bear children for Jeremy Kingston as his fourth wife.
"He hides behind this religion and claims he has been persecuted, when he has committed a crime," Samuels said.
Jeremy and Lu Ann Kingston had two daughters together. Lu Ann Kingston said when she entered into the polygamous marriage, Jeremy already had one legal wife and two plural wives; he had 14 children when she left.
Samuels said she understands Jeremy Kingston currently has 17 children.
Lu Ann Kingston said her life now has changed for the better. She is out of the Kingston group, has been happily married in a monogamous relationship for a little more than a year and has a month-old baby with her new husband.
E-mail: lindat@desnews.com