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Groton Daily Independent
Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 069 ~ 16 of 36
Wall plans to use the money to help people leaving the group, which is based along the Utah-Arizona border and has a compound in South Dakota.
“I can now close these chapters in my life and focus on building a better future for myself and my chil- dren,” Wall said in a statement. The state of Utah is also entitled to half the punitive damages in the case, up to $6 million, under state law, Mortensen said.
Last year, Wall agreed to a $2.75-million settlement with the group’s communal property trust, but her case against Jeffs and the group continued until Tuesday. Neither Jeffs nor his group got a lawyer or de- fended themselves in the case.
Her testimony about the 2001 marriage helped convict Jeffs in Utah of being an accomplice to rape, though the verdict was overturned on a technicality. He’s now serving a life prison sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting girls he considered wives.
His group does not have a spokesman or a phone listing where leaders can be contacted.
The Associated Press doesn’t generally identify victims of sexual assault, but Wall has spoken publicly and written a book about her experiences.
The federal government has also gone after the group on multiple fronts, winning child labor cases in Utah and recapturing high-ranking leader Lyle Jeffs, who ed home con nement in a food-stamp fraud case.
An Arizona jury found last year that the border towns that form the town’s home base denied nonbeliev- ers police protection, building permits and water hookups on the basis of religion.
The communities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona, are now under court supervision for the next decade as punishment.
Hurricane impacts talks between pipeline company, state
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Hurricane Harvey has impacted the pace of negotiations between the company that built the Dakota Access oil pipeline and North Dakota regulators investigating potential violations of state rules during construction.
Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak says attorney negotiations have continued but Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners also has been busy with hurricane response.
ETP is based in Dallas but has facilities on the Gulf Coast. The company said it dedicated about 1,000 employees to a hurricane response team.
North Dakota alleges ETP improperly reported the discovery of American Indian artifacts. The state also is looking into whether crews removed too many trees and improperly handled some soil while laying pipe in the state. Both are potentially nable offenses.
The PSC said Wednesday it’s too early to know when negotiations might conclude.
4-month sentence for assault on baby
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A Parmelee woman has been sentenced to four months in federal prison for assaulting a baby.
Prosecutors say 22-year-old Charlee Spotted Tail started an altercation in a store parking lot last year with a woman who was holding a 6-month-old baby. Spotted Tail tried to strike the woman, but hit the baby in the head instead. She then hit the baby a second time before eeing.
The Argus Leader says Spotted Tail was convicted of one count of assault. ___
Information from: Argus Leader, http://www.argusleader.com