7 seek dismissal of suits vs. jailed polygamist leader
 
By Jennifer Dobner
The Associated Press
Arizona Daily Star - Tucson, AZ
 
SALT LAKE CITY — Seven men who filed civil lawsuits against the head of a polygamous church are now asking a court to dismiss the cases, their attorney said Wednesday.

Six men — known as Lost Boys — filed suit against Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 2004, claiming they were unfairly kicked out of the church.

Another man, a nephew of Jeffs', filed a separate suit that year alleging he had been sexually assaulted by his uncle. The Associated Press does not typically name victims of alleged sexual assault.

The lawsuits defaulted, and none collected damages. Instead, the men waited for the state to take over a $114 million church property trust and then sued the trust.

In a settlement, each was given three acres of southern Utah land, and a $250,000 fund was established to help other FLDS young people.

Attorney Roger Hoole said dismissal papers for the original lawsuits were filed in 3rd District Court Wednesday, "signaling that their objectives have largely been met."

Those objectives included taking control of the trust from church leaders; ousting some members of the Police Department in the church-controlled towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah; and helping law enforcement locate victims of child abuse willing to testify against Jeffs, 52.

In September, a Utah jury convicted the church prophet of two counts of rape as an accomplice in the arranged marriage of a 14-year-old follower and her 19-year-old cousin. He was sentenced to two consecutive terms of five years to life in prison. Jeffs is in a Kingman jail, awaiting trial in two cases related to other marriages between girls and older relatives.
 
azstarnet.com
Originally published March 20, 2008
 
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