Utah Polygamist Released From Prison

A polygamist was freed from prison after serving four years of a possible 10-year sentence for incest with his underage niece, who testified she was forced to become his 15th wife.

The state parole board's decision to release David Ortell Kingston on Tuesday rather than parole him means the prison has no responsibility to follow up on him.

Todd Utzinger, one of Kingston's former attorneys, said the parole board's decision recognizes "he has taken full responsibility and is prepared to go on and live a crime-free life."

Kingston, 36, was convicted of felony incest and unlawful sexual contact with a minor and was sentenced in 1999 to two consecutive terms of up to five years in prison.

Kingston was an accountant for The Latter Day Church of Christ, a secretive polygamous sect believed to have about 1,000 members and a $150 million business network in six Western states. Religious beliefs include marriages of men to close female relatives.

Kingston's 16-year-old wife was the daughter of his brother John Daniel Kingston, who was sentenced to seven months in jail for beating the girl after she attempted to flee the marriage. Another Kingston brother, Paul, is the church leader.

David Kingston had denied having had sex with his niece until a parole hearing last August. He vowed never again to have sex with an underage girl.

"I recognize the hurt and sorrow I have caused (the victim) and my family," he said.

Corrections officials described him as a model prisoner who tutored fellow inmates in the prison's college program.