Kingston Polygamist Wife Attends Court Hearing

KSL News/January 6, 2005

It's now apparent there will be a criminal investigation into John Daniel Kingston's relationship with 10 of his more than 100 children. What started, as another routine visitation hearing with one of Kingston's wives quickly revealed more. Kimberly Houk joins us live.

The visitation hearing was continued today after the attorney for Heidi Mattingly demanded to see a videotaped interview with Kingston's 13 year old daughter. A tape the State fought really hard to keep out of the hands of anyone who is affiliated with the Kingston's. A possible sign a criminal investigation by the Attorney General's office is underway.

It's a piece of information the State clearly doesn't seem to want the Kingston's to know, something they say may interfere with their investigation. The judge agreed to have another impartial judge look at the tape, see if there is anything on it that would be relevant to the custody hearing. It's the only thing that would give Mattingly's attorney the right to see it.

As for the custody issue, Mattingly was back in court today asking for more visitation rights with her children. But the judge ruled against it after saying that her 2 hour a week supervised visits don't seem to be going well. The Division of Child and Family Services says Mattingly is using the visits to turn her children against their foster parents and the court, but she was allowed to spend some time with them over the holidays.

Heidi Mattingly/Mother: "It was great to be able to see the kids on Christmas. It was wonderful to have that opportunity to be with them."

The police also showed up for that visit after the State claimed Mattingly was threatening to kidnap her children during their Christmas visit. And again today, the judge says he really wants to be able to return her children, but he's still waiting for her to acknowledge that she failed to protect them from their abusive father.