Exile from polygamous sect gets custody of kids

Exile from polygamous sect gets custody of kids

(AP Photo/The Spectrum & Daily News, Jud Burkett, Pool)


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ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) — A Utah judge has awarded an exiled member of Warren Jeffs' polygamous sect sole custody of children who were being raised by his wives who remain members of the religion.

Judge James Shumate granted Lorin Holm custody because it is more likely that Holm will allow his wives to visit the children, and less likely that the wives would have allowed Holm into their residence if they had custody, the Spectrum of St. George reported Thursday.

During the two-day trial, one of Holm's wives, Lynda Peine, testified that she still follows Jeffs and the "Laws of God." During testimony from a woman who told the court about being sexually assaulted by Jeffs when she was 14, Peine put her fingers in her ears.

Jeffs is serving a life prison sentence for sexually assaulting underage girls he considered brides.

Peine is one of Lorin Holm's two wives who remain members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on the Utah-Arizona border. They don't want Holm to be allowed near the children because they consider him to be a bad influence since he was exiled from the sect.

Lorin Holm, an exiled member of the 
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of 
Latter Day Saints, wipes away a tear as he 
describes his hopes for the future of his 
family during a custody hearing between Holm 
and his two ex-wives who still belong to the 
FLDS Church in 5th District Court in St. 
George, Utah Thursday, March 27, 2014. Holm's 
attorneys have argued that the mothers of 
Holm's children should be denied custody due 
to the possible influence their church 
leader, Warren Jeffs, who was sentenced to 
life in prison by a Texas court in 2011for 
sexually assaulting two underage girls whom 
he had taken as spiritual wives, might have 
over the children.
Lorin Holm, an exiled member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, wipes away a tear as he describes his hopes for the future of his family during a custody hearing between Holm and his two ex-wives who still belong to the FLDS Church in 5th District Court in St. George, Utah Thursday, March 27, 2014. Holm's attorneys have argued that the mothers of Holm's children should be denied custody due to the possible influence their church leader, Warren Jeffs, who was sentenced to life in prison by a Texas court in 2011for sexually assaulting two underage girls whom he had taken as spiritual wives, might have over the children. (Photo: AP Photo/The Spectrum & Daily News, Jud Burkett, Pool)

Holm sued to get sole custody of the children in 2011 after he was kicked out of the sect earlier that year for being deemed unfaithful. He had three wives and more than a dozen children. Today, he lives with his first wife, who also left the church.

Holm argues that his children could be sexually abused, forced into child labor or kicked out of the church while being raised by Lynda Peine and Patricia Peine.

Many of the estimated 7,500 people living in Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, are still followers of Jeffs, who followers believe is a prophet.

Jeffs' Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a radical offshoot of mainstream Mormonism whose members believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven.

The practice of polygamy is a legacy of the early teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but the mainstream church and its 15 million members worldwide abandoned polygamy in 1890 and strictly prohibit it today.

Rodney Parker, Peine's attorney, said he didn't know if the custody case would be appealed.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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