"The upshot of this is on Oct. 8 in 1870, between sessions of the general conference, (when) Brigham Young presented evidence to the Quorum of the Twelve, and they voted to excommunicate John D. Lee and Isaac Haight," a Cedar City stake president in 1857, Alexander said. Lee was the only man ever tried and executed for his part in the massacre.

Local historian Will Bagley disagrees with Alexander's conclusion. He believes church leadership knew details about the massacre years earlier, based on abundant evidence "from the most impeccable Mormon sources."

Bagley also believes there is enough circumstantial evidence to implicate Brigham Young in the massacre as there is to implicate O.J. Simpson in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

Alexander told the UVSC audience he doesn't "believe that Brigham Young knew about the massacre until after it had taken place.

"He tried to help bring people to justice. To do that, he still believed in the bad actions of the members of the (Arkansas) party. And this is something that is quite controversial."

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com