BRIGHAM CITY -- A settlement reached in the state"s custody battle with John Daniel Kingston over his runaway 15-year-old son cancelled Monday"s custody trial in 1st District Juvenile Court.
Under terms of the settlement, the boy could eventually be returned to Kingston.
But he nonetheless doesn"t want to go back, said the state"s lawyer who pushed the case close to trial. "His position hasn"t changed," said Karl Perry, the assistant attorney general assigned to 1st District Juvenile Court.
"He doesn"t want to go home to a polygamous family."
The boy fled the clan in September, telling Box Elder sheriff"s deputies he feared the oppressive discipline he"d witnessed over the years, even though he had been spared it because he was designated a future leader of the clan.
His father, a Salt Lake area businessman, and his mother, Margaret Larsen Owens, of Plymouth, believe he was lured away by his friends, including a girlfriend. He was placed in state Division of Child and Family Services custody.
After Monday"s trial was cancelled officials said the boy remains in foster care, but the division had signed off on a 90-day "service plan" that typically resolves custody cases.
Kingston has to agree to abide by certain conditions regarding treatment of the boy before he can be returned to his father, said Justin Bond, the public defender representing the Kingstons in the case.
By law the actual terms of the agreement are confidential and the proceedings in juvenile court are closed to the public, so officials said they could offer no details.
"We"re working with the family," said Carol Sisco, family services division spokeswoman. "We always try to see if they can take care of the child at home. We look at the services they need, and the services the youngster needs."
Kingston "wants to work with DCFS to try to repair the damage that"s been done," said Bond, who has been critical of the state"s case. "It"s one of the weakest I"ve ever seen. I never understood what the state"s case was. It never became clear.
"It was a big waste of time. We have cases of real abuse and neglect to deal with."
Officials explained that state law lays out three categories under which the division can take custody of children: abuse, neglect and dependency, the third relating to the parents" ability to take care of the children.
Perry and Dianne Balmain, a lawyer and guardian ad litem assigned the boy by juvenile court, have said the state"s case was tied to emotional abuse and issues of dependency involving the polygamous lifestyle the boy was exposed to. Psychologists" testimony to the boy"s emotional abuse had been planned.
At a hearing in October that left in place a restraining order keeping the boy"s mother from harassing the Tremonton family who helped him flee, the son testified he feared his father"s temper.
He also said that coming from a polygamous background would keep him from his dream of becoming an engineer.
The boy also said he objected to the unpaid labor family members must do, and had sent his father a letter after he left asking to be paid $6,000 for work he had done on the Kingstons" Washakie-Salers ranch near Plymouth.
Kingston took that as a ransom note and had actually reported his son as kidnapped.
Perry and Balmain had been prepared to call roughly 15 people to testify to the boy"s fears and the impacts of his exposure to lifestyle illegal under state law.
Bond was prepared to call about a dozen witnesses.
"They care a lot about these kids, they love their children," Bond said of Kingston and Owens. "I"ve been dealing with them for about 60 days now, and I know they are very concerned about their kids."
Kingston has another custody battle on his hands in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake involving a 13-year-old daughter who fled earlier this month, now in DCFS custody, who told authorities she was being prepared for an underage marriage. Kingston has said the girl was lured away and coached on what to say by anti-polygamy activists.
In accusations stemming alongside the Box Elder custody fight, the Attorney General"s Office is investigating claims from a 19-year-old woman who helped the 15-year-old boy flee. She told sheriff"s deputies she was forced into an alleged underage marriage with her cousin, one of John Daniel Kingston"s sons.
Another John Daniel Kingston sibling triggered a storm of publicity over Utah"s polygamous roots when she ran away from Washakie-Salers in 1998. She remains in DCFS custody today, officials said.
She was fleeing her arranged marriage to her father"s brother David.
Kingston spent 28 weeks in jail for belt-whipping the girl for resisting her uncle-husband. David O. Kingston is still in prison serving a possible 10-year term for incest.