"I was informed she was a law clerk," Valdez said. "Now it turns out she may . . . have a child and be the wife of John Daniel Kingston."

Heidi Foster's defense attorney, Mark Hansen, said he had no knowledge of Laura Fuller's relationship with Kingston.

Valdez said he was concerned that nobody from the defense team disclosed Fuller's relationship with Kingston prior to court proceedings.

For two days of court hearings, Fuller sat behind the defense table and handed paperwork to both Hansen and Daniel Irvin, who is representing John Daniel Kingston.

"I feel that's a huge conflict of interest when the mother of John Daniel Kingston's children is helping you in this case. I'm very, very dismayed," Valdez told Hansen. "It is very, very concerning to me because I have four officers of the court here and to have one stand up and say, 'I know nothing,' is disconcerting to me."

The Kingstons are members of the Latter-day Church of God, which reportedly has some 1,200 members and professes polygamy as one of its beliefs. The family also operates a $150 million business empire in six Western states.

The 15-year-old girl in the current case has made attempts to flee her home in the past. She ran away in November 2001 after allegedly telling officials she was being prepared for marriage to a 21-year-old man, said DCFS spokeswoman Carol Sisco.

Kingston pleaded no contest to third-degree felony charges for the 1998 beating of then-16-year-old Mary Ann Kingston, who ran away after refusing to become the 15th wife of an uncle. The father served 28 weeks in the Box Elder County Jail in that instance.

Valdez ordered the transcript of taped testimony of the two teens describing the alleged abuse in the current case to be available to the media. The custody hearing continues Tuesday.

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com