"They are welcome to make a better offer," Shields said to scoffs from FLDS faithful in the courtroom audience.

Outside of court, FLDS members said they were grateful to have a chance to be heard, but still fear losing their homes. Members offered different reasons for their silence all these years.

"People would come and take our children and put us in jail. That's why we never came forth," said an FLDS woman who refused to give her name. "Not because Warren Jeffs told us to."

FLDS member and spokesman Willie Jessop said they didn't realize they were "under attack" until it was too late.

"If his (Wisan's) job was to preserve the trust, why did we need to panic in the first place?" he said. "We had no idea the fiduciary had declared a sociological and psychological war on us."

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com