State wants to yank parental rights of Kingston, Mattingly

The state will ask a judge next week to terminate the parental rights of polygamist John Daniel Kingston and one of his wives, Heidi Mattingly, an assistant attorney general said Tuesday.

During a routine scheduling hearing Tuesday, Assistant Attorney General Carolyn Nichols told 3rd District Juvenile Judge Elizabeth Lindsley of her plans to file the motion Monday. Lindsley is the third judge to preside over the high-profile case after two other judges stepped down in a week's time.

Mattingly said she knew the state "was up to something" and prepared herself for the possibility of losing her children. Kingston and Mattingly have 11 children together.

"How is that in the best interest of the kids at this point?" Mattingly said of the possibility of losing her parental rights. "The kids want to go home."

The first judge to preside over the case, 3rd District Juvenile Judge Andrew Valdez, ordered in April that reunification efforts should be stepped up and visitation restored to Heidi Mattingly in an effort to gradually reunite the children with their mother, if she complied with certain court-ordered terms.

A hearing to review that order had been scheduled for June 28, but was cancelled after Valdez recused himself. Lindsley rescheduled the hearing for a three-day stretch starting July 18.

Lindsley said Kingston, Mattingly, and the children deserve some answer in the case, which has stretched on for more than a year.

"We may be doing a disservice to these children" by waiting any longer to make a ruling, Lindsley said. "The parents and children are entitled to a hearing on whether they will return home or not."

The case has stalled since two judges stepped aside from the case. Valdez stepped down June 24, after Nichols questioned his impartiality because the judge's son was cited for a scuffle with Kingston supporters outside the Matheson courthouse in April.

Then, the next judge appointed to the case stepped aside because he had prosecuted members of the Kingston clan while working as a deputy Salt Lake County district attorney.

The lengthy child abuse case began in February 2004 when two of Kingston's teenage daughters pierced their ears without their father's permission. That incident led to an investigation of abuses in the home.

A year ago, Valdez ruled Kingston abused his children and that Mattingly failed to protect them from that abuse. Then, in January, Valdez ruled that Mattingly also physically abused the couple's children.

Mattingly said she is worried about her children who are still in state custody. Her 14-year-old daughter was allegedly sexually abused while under the state's watch, a situation Mattingly said she cannot comprehend.

Last week, prosecutors charged Jesse Ray Taylor with one count of sodomy on a child, a first-degree felony; one count of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony; and two counts of sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony.

"They are not safe in state custody," Mattingly said. "If you want them to be safe, send them home."

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com