Federal Judge Awards $152 Million to Ex-FLDS Members in Lawsuit Against Warren Jeffs

A federal judge has awarded $152 million in damages to former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints over abuses they say they suffered while in the Utah-based polygamous faith. U.S. District Court Judge Ted Stewart issued the judgment late on a Thursday, and it was directed against Warren Jeffs, the FLDS leader who is imprisoned.

The verdict followed a trial that FOX 13 News first reported on the previous year. At trial, former members testified about forced marriages, rapes and other abuses they said they endured in the church, and they blamed Jeffs for those abuses. The judgment reflects the court’s findings in that civil case. It does not address any new criminal charges.

Ruby Jessop, one of the plaintiffs, told FOX 13 News last year what it meant for the case to reach trial. “People that have hurt us in the past will not get away with it. It means everything to us,” she said.

Standing up for people who have been harmed and cannot easily defend themselves is the kind of care the court was asked to address (Proverbs 31:8-9).

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Roger Hoole, said in a statement to FOX 13 News on Friday that he was pleased with the verdict. “The judgment will send a clear message about the terrible things [my] clients suffered at Jeffs’ hands and the harm that so many other former and current members continue to suffer,” he wrote.

Hoole also acknowledged the limits of the award. “The judgment is largely symbolic and will be challenging to collect, but it will help vindicate the harms suffered by the FLDS under Jeffs’ reign,” he wrote.

Source: Read the original report