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The Utah Attorney General's Office has agreed to a plan that could temporarily hand back control of a property trust to a polygamous sect, according to documents filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints would be able to run the trust according to religious principles, but it would be barred from selling property without a court order or evicting anyone from their homes against their will, according to proposed terms for a preliminary injunction. The Arizona Attorney General's Office, however, disagreed with the proposal, and the actual terms of a court injunction will be decided by U.S. District Judge Dee Benson.
Utah's agreement comes after Benson ruled that the state violated the U.S. Constitution when it took over the trust in 2005 amid allegations of mismanagement by FLDS trustees.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is appealing that ruling, though he estimated the process would likely take at least a year.
"I strongly disagreed with the judge's ruling," Shurtleff said Tuesday.
But "we just think this preliminary action is required to move forward."
Shurtleff said the agreement complies with Benson's ruling without preventing his office from appealing it. He said it could help lessen the amount of future litigation and possibly bring a fresh start in the "poisonous" atmosphere on trust property. The agreement also has protections for people living on and using trust property.
The agreement, however, isn't unanimous. The Arizona attorney general said in a separate filing that Warren S. Jeffs — who is awaiting trial on charges connected to alleged marriages to underage girls in Texas — cannot be allowed to regain control of the trust.
"It would be a travesty for this court, especially as a matter of interim relief, to hand over control of the UEP [United Effort Plan] Trust to such a person," wrote Assistant Arizona Attorney General Michael Hinson in a separate motion.
The UEP Trust contains nearly all the homes, buildings and land in the sect's home base of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. It is valued at about $110 million.
When the state took control of the trust, a judge appointed accountant Bruce Wisan to oversee it. FLDS members began filing lawsuits challenging the takeover in 2008.
Utah's agreement proposes handing control back to the FLDS's legal entity, the Corporation of the President (COP). Jeffs reclaimed the church presidency in February, but an ongoing church power struggle means that who is in control remains in question, Hinson wrote.
Instead of handing control back to COP, Arizona proposed keeping Wisan on to run the trust as the appeals process — and another possible interjection by the Utah Supreme Court — plays out.
Wisan said he was "in sync" with that plan.
"It's difficult to give something to the COP when no one is quite sure who the COP is," he said Tuesday.
For FLDS attorneys, however, the Utah agreement is a good first step.
"We think it represents a reasonable interim step that respects the religious rights of the parties while protecting the minority rights," said one, Rod Parker.
Under the agreement, Wisan would be suspended from his position as administrator and hand over records to the FLDS. The sect would have to respect leases entered into by Wisan, but it could terminate them according to the terms of the lease.
The proposal bars the FLDS from selling property without a court order or agreement from the Utah Attorney General's Office and prohibits anyone from harassing or intimidating anyone else in connection with trust property.
The sect would first have to use any proceeds from it to pay off property taxes, then for other needs.
The trust would also still have to pay the millions of dollars owed to Wisan, attorneys and others. It would also still be responsible for damages awarded to people who have sued the trust and won, Shurtleff said.
Asked if he considers the agreement a defeat, Shurtleff said, "The defeat would be to continue to litigate for five or six years. That's in no one's interest."
What's next
U.S. District Judge Dee Benson, who ruled in February that a state takeover of the FLDS property trust was illegal, will set the terms of a preliminary injunction, though no deadline was immediately set for his decision.