Testimony of Sara Hammon
 
UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE on the JUDICIARY, HEARING on "CRIMES ASSOCIATED WITH POLYGAMY: THE NEED FOR A COORDINATED STATE AND FEDERAL RESPONSE", AT THE SENATE DIRKSEN OFFICE BUILDING, ON THE 24TH DAY OF JULY, 2008
 
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED BY SARA HAMMON
 
I, Sara Hammon, a resident of Mesquite, Nevada, want to thank the Judiciary Committee for allowing me to submit my views in absentia by way of a written submission on the critical matters surrounding crimes that take place within the polygamous sect including but not limited to wife battering, child abuse, incest, tax evasion and welfare fraud in general and in particular, how it is necessary for a collaborative state and federal effort for a meaningful solution to the crimes often associated with polygamy.

For ease of reference for the committee and for a historical backdrop, I would like to more fully describe myself.

I was born in Hildale, UT in 1974 and raised in Colorado City, AZ until 1989. During those 14 years, I was physically, sexually, emotionally, and mentally abused by 12 members of my family, including my father.

At the age of 14, I left home to escape this abuse and an impending marriage set immediately after my 15th birthday, and to escape a fate similiar to that of my mother's. My mother was the tenth of my father's 19 wives and I was the 64th of his 75 children. I lived in the same house with my father during the 13 years before his death in 1988. He seldom recognized me and he never remembered my name or which wife had given birth to me. My mother began having nervous breakdowns in 1975 and these breakdowns didn't subside until 1999 when she moved out of the house I was raised in. In total, she had nearly two dozen nervous breakdowns due to the extreme emotional stress inflicted on her by the polygamous lifestyle - and by the abuse of her children, and other children known to her, while they being were raised in it.

My father was one of the FLDS priesthood leaders from 1941 to 1984. He was 'ordained' to preceed Warren Jeff's father, Rulon, as 'prophet' of the church upon the death of Leroy S. Johnson. Due to a conflict in principles, he was ousted from the church and created his own sect in the mid 1980's - known as The Work of Jesus Christ. His followers are based at Cenntenial Park, AZ, approximately one mile from Colorado City, AZ. My father was on the original Board of Trustees for the United Effort Plan. The United Effort Plan was designed to take property deeds away from rightful owner(s) of the property and place them in the hands of church leaders. My mother was a victim of extortion when she was coerced by my father to sign over her interest in property she inherited from my grandfather.

In 2004 I joined The HOPE Organization in an effort to help people who have left polygamy transition into mainstream society. In 2006 I became the Vice President of this organization. While Warren Jeffs was on the FBI's Most Wanted List and since his apprehension in 2006, I interviewed with Larry King, Diane Sawyer, Anderson Cooper 360, BBC, The LA Times, ABC News, and others, including independent film makers and book authors. I was one of the first people to come forward about abuse at the inception of the Safety Net Committee in Southern Utah - which was established by the states of UT and AZ to set up communication between polygamist sects and the state governments. All of this, to help bring light to the crimes being cloaked by religious polygamy - and to the victims of them.

The lack of a coordinated state and federal response to crimes associated with polygamy today finds its roots in highly public failures by the state. It is nothing if not ironic that Abraham Lincoln, in his Second Annual Message to Congress on December 1, 1862, told Americans that "we cannot escape history". Yet the Great Emancipator did just that - and did so successfully. While earlier that year Lincoln signed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Law designed to punish and prevent the practice of polygamy, he secretly passed word to Brigham Young that he would not prosecute polgamous Mormons who were otherwise law abiding.

The wisdom of Lincoln's approach that did not target the lifestyle (polygamy) only criminal behavior tragically took place almost one century later on July 26, 1953 with the disastrous Arizona state raid on the Short Creek polygamous community. Martha Bradley, of the University of Utah, in "Kidnapped From That Land" finds the real goal of that short sighted raid, to wipe out plural marriage, not only failed but was an unmitigated PR disaster arousing great public sympathy for the polygamists.

The bitter legacy of the aborted Short Creek raid was such that the hearing today concerning a coordinated federal and state response to crimes associated with polygamy would not be possible because for approximately 50 years after Short Creek, state officials in Utah, Arizona, turned a blind eye to many abuses of women and children. Except for the most notorious abuse that could not escape public scrutiny, those states did nothing to halt crimes against women and children. Unlike after Short Creek, the recent raid of the polygamous sect at Eldorado, Texas, and its aftermath has highlighted the need for a coordinated federal and state response toward the criminal excesses of polygamy, especially child abuse.

Today state and federal governments are in a great position to embrace Lincoln's attitude toward polygamy - that is while not fully countenancing polygamy as a lifestyle, prosecuting criminal abuses. This can be successful only with increased communication between state and federal agencies especially as it relates to white collar crimes such as Income Tax evasion and racketeering type operations.

Mark Shurtleff, Utah Attorney General, is in favor of forming a joint task force to facilitate such communication between the governments. His office currently partners with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women to provide resources to victims of spousal domestic violence such as legal help and housing.

This can be a model of state- federal coordination regarding crimes associated with polygamy.

And something, I want to emphasize today. Women who leave polygamous relationships after being victims of violence are left isolated, poor and alone. Unfortunately, State Domestic Relations laws do not allocate spousal alimony (alimony) or provide for equitable distribution of assets and liabilities for second, third, fourth (and beyond) wives.

A federal judicial task force is essential to explore how to make state divorce laws compatible with the end of polygamous relationships just in terms of basic decency and human capital.

Thank you for your time.

Sara Hammon

P.O. Box 2313
Mesquite, NV 89024
Email: hammon222(at)hotmail.com