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Phoenix • Richard Allred had been kicked out of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. That meant he had to move away, leaving his wives and children.
But, according to Dowayne Barlow, who said he was present in 2006 when Allred got the boot, Lyle Jeffs had one more instruction for Allred — he had to resign as mayor of Colorado City, Ariz.
To the U.S. Department of Justice, it is an example of how Lyle Jeffs and his imprisoned brother, FLDS President Warren Jeffs, dictate what happens in town government. During opening statements Wednesday in the civil rights discrimination lawsuit against Colorado City and adjacent Hildale, Utah, Justice Department attorney Jessica Clarke described residents as living under religious oppression and unequal protection under the law.
"The police officers in these towns are treading on these basic freedoms," Clarke told jurors. "They're doing it for the benefit of one man: Warren Jeffs."
The trial is expected to last four weeks. The Justice Department has two claims: that the marshals in Hildale and Colorado City have practiced a pattern of discrimination and that the towns have committed housing discrimination. The Justice Department has not said what damages it wants if the jury finds in its favor, but it is expected to seek monetary damages and to ask Judge H. Russel Holland to disband the marshals' office.
Clarke told jurors how marshals arrest people out of favor with Jeffs and then refuse to investigate when those same people report crimes. She promised the jury evidence of how marshals helped protect Warren Jeffs when he was wanted by the FBI and have ignored evidence of underage marriages.
Meanwhile, Clarke said, the municipal governments in Hildale and Colorado City, collectively known as Short Creek, and their utilities denied utility connections and devised policies to prevent non-FLDS people from moving there. Church leaders decide who serves in elected and appointed positions in the municipal governments, she said.
Jeffs is serving a sentence in Texas of life plus 20 years for crimes related to marrying underage girls. Neither he nor the church is a party in the lawsuit.
Colorado City's attorney, Phoenix lawyer Jeff Matura, contended in his opening statement that the Justice Department case is about religion, not discrimination.
"The facts will show the federal government wants to eradicate this religion," Matura said, "because it finds it distasteful."
Colorado City has open, democratic elections just like other towns, he said. Meanwhile, the marshals' office gets legal advice from an independent prosecutor before acting on complicated matters.
Matura also criticized two key plaintiff witnesses: Helaman Barlow and Vincen Barlow, half brothers who served as chief marshal and Hildale city manager, respectively. In a 2014 trial, they testified under oath that religion did not influence their decisions. Since then, they have admitted to lying under oath and are expected to testify in this trial that they followed church directives as they made policing and policy decisions.
Matura called them liars.
"Their stories have changed so many times, it will be impossible to determine which reality they are claiming this time," Matura said.
"As the federal government puts on its case, periodically ask yourself who is discriminating against who," Matura later added.
Salt Lake City attorney Blake Hamilton is representing Hildale and a related utility, Twin City Water Authority. In his opening statements, he reminded jurors that they could reach a split ruling and determine that perhaps Colorado City discriminated, but not Hildale or the water authority, or vice versa.
Hamilton defended the marshals, saying that when Utah seized a trust holding the homes in Short Creek, it created complex legal and property questions and the marshals were in the middle. The trust, called the United Effort Plan, would give people homes even though someone else resided on the property. The marshals, Hamilton said, then would arrive and have to determine who had a right to live there and who was trespassing.
The marshals did the best they could, Hamilton said.
"And, most importantly, they haven't participated in a pattern or practice of discrimination," he said.
Dowayne Barlow, 46, was the first witness and one of several for the Justice Department who used to follow the Jeffs brothers and the FLDS. Barlow worked as an assistant to Lyle Jeffs, beginning about 2004, and left the FLDS in 2012.
Days or weeks after Allred was excommunicated and told to resign as mayor, Dowayne Barlow was present, he testified, when the then-bishop of Short Creek, William E. Jessop, received a phone call. Jessop hung up, Dowayne Barlow testified, and said "the word has come down" that a man named Terrell Johnson was to be Colorado City's new mayor.
For four hours, Barlow also testified that:
• Town officials and marshals were present at church services when teen girls would walk in with the families of older men. Everyone at the service assumed the girls had married the men.
• He was present at multiple meetings with town officials discussing FLDS legal strategy and where Lyle Jeffs decided who would serve in the marshals' office and various elected offices.
• Municipal employees and elected officials served on the church security force. The current Colorado City mayor, Joseph Allred, and current Hildale mayor, Philip Barlow, also served as church security.
• Marshals trained church security in how to use firearms, stun guns and hand-to-hand combat. They also taught the security force how to obstruct law enforcement without being physically threatening.
• That training was on display in January 2006, when the FBI arrived at a service at the FLDS meetinghouse to serve subpoenas on Lyle Jeffs and other men. Dowayne Barlow said security members stood in front of FBI agents and moved when the agents moved and delayed the agents long enough for Lyle Jeffs to escape on an ATV stored in the furnace room.
• The marshals ran license plate numbers for church security.
• Food stamps became the biggest source of income for the FLDS storehouse, which collected and distributed food, clothes, toiletries and other goods for the followers. FLDS members on food stamps were instructed to periodically visit a grocery store and a dairy controlled by the church. The businesses would run the government-issued debit card, but the food would be delivered to the church storehouse rather than given to the cardholder. cq Storehouse food was supposed to be shared with the community.
• Meat from poached deer and elk was distributed at the storehouse.
• Prescriptions were to be delivered to the storehouse so staff there could go to a pharmacy and fill them. When Lyle Jeffs got frustrated with what was being spent on medications, FLDS were ordered to consecrate unused medications to the storehouse to be redistributed. The storehouse had no pharmacist or pharmacy license.
Dowayne Barlow said he saw the towns' marshals in the storehouse or at church services, where the storehouse practices were discussed, and should have known what was happening there.
Dowayne Barlow also described the sight of seeing men excommunicated from the church and separated from their families.
"It's one of the hardest experiences you will ever go through," he said, choking up. "I can tell you the grave would be a preferred place."
During cross-examination from Hamilton, Dowayne Barlow acknowledged that from 2007 through 2009, his work in construction management often had him living in Idaho or Wyoming. But Dowayne Barlow said he often returned to Short Creek on weekends or for family functions.
"You just happened to be present when all these appointments were made?" Hamilton asked.
"Mr. Hamilton, there were many other appointments I was not present for," Dowayne Barlow replied.
The cross-examination of Dowayne Barlow is to resume Thursday morning.
Twitter: @natecarlisle