Union County, USA - Target 7 investigates why a cult leader convicted of sex crimes against children may soon get out of prison due to a legal technicality.
Target 7 recently visited the Strong City Compound and found out why the court of appeals said that Wayne Bent should have never been indicted. The court of appeals just threw out Bent’s convictions.
A jury convicted Bent in 2008 after authorities charged Bent with sex crimes against several underage girls.
“We believe him staying in prison for 10 years or dying there was not part of the plan, so we believe that this outcome with the appeal was part of the plan that was supposed to happen,” Jeff Bent, Wayne Bent’s son, said.
Jeff Bent is currently preparing for his father to return to the compound in an isolated part of northeast New Mexico.
The court of appeals recently ruled that the indictments against Wayne Bent weren’t valid, meaning that his convictions couldn’t stick. The appeals court stated that the grand jury shouldn’t have handed down the indictments because the grand jury's term expired five months before the indictment came.
“We knew that. We knew that we had gone beyond the 90 days, and that’s why we went to the judge,” Eight Judicial District Attorney Donald Gallegos said.
Even though the grand jury’s term expired in January 2008, Gallegos signed off on the indictments on May 20.
“Accountability wise, obviously it rests with me because I am the aide to the grand jury,” Gallegos said. “I’m not Rupert Murdoch. I do take responsibility and accountability about what goes on in my shop.”
Gallegos said he consulted with a district judge about the expired grand jury and then moved forward with the case.
“I believe the judge made the determination that the grand jury that had been convened was still the proper one to be there,” Gallegos said. The court of appeals disagreed.
“I understand their logic. I certainly disagree with it because it doesn’t negate the fact that 12 people found enough evidence to charge him and 12 people found evidence to convict him,” Gallegos said.
While Bent may soon rejoin the religious sect that has maintained his innocence from the beginning, Gallegos will have the chance to try to indict him again.
“You know I believe, as a prosecutor, that I have enough evidence that I can take to a jury,” Gallegos said. “Based on the statements that we have from the individuals involved that he did lie down naked with these girls.”
Bent has filed an emergency motion to be released from prison. He’s currently waiting for the court of appeals to make that decision. At the same time, the attorney general is appealing the decision to the Supreme Court.
According to the district attorney, Bent was the only person indicted while the grand jury had been expired. He doesn’t believe any other cases or convictions will be affected.