Verfasser:	Hexe
Datum:	Sonntag, den 26. September 2004, um 23:42 Uhr
Betrifft:	Wissenswertes über George P. Lee

GEORGE P. LEE, SALT LAKE CITY, 1986-89

George Patrick Lee (his middle name was assigned by teachers at the government boarding school on the reservation) was born 23 March 1943 at Towaoc, Ute Mountain Indian Reservation, Colorado, to Pete Lee and Mae K. Asdzaat-chii Lee. His father had four children by a first marriage, his mother two surviving children of four by two previous marriages. Lee was the second of their nine children. The family was poor, sometimes desperately so. His father was both an alcoholic and a shaman. Lee became a star example of the LDS-sponsored Indian Placement Program, an effort to place elementary- and high-school-aged Indian students from reservations in LDS homes throughout the West where they were clothed, fed, and educated at the expense of the volunteer Mormon family. At age twelve, Lee was placed with the George and Joan Harker family of Orem. He graduated from grade school, junior high, high school, and BYU with a B.A., and earned a master’s degree from Utah State University and a Ph.D. from BYU in educational administration. He served in the Southwest Indian Mission, an area which included the Navajo reservation, and married Katherine (Kitty) Hettich, a Comanche, in the Salt Lake Temple (Spencer W. Kimball, then an apostle, officiated at the ceremony), and they became the parents of seven children. Silent Courage, his autobiography, ends with his calling on 3 October 1975 to the First Quorum of the Seventy, the first (and so far only) Native American to become a General Authority. He was thirty-two and president of Ganado College on the Navajo reservation at the time. His calling was widely attributed to the long-time interest that Apostle Spencer W. Kimball had in Native Americans. Kimball had become president of the Church twenty-two months earlier.

Lee was excommunicated on 1 September 1989, thirteen years and eleven months after becoming a General Authority, on charges of "apostasy and conduct unbecoming a member." Five years later, on 11 October 1994, he pled guilty to attempted sexual abuse of a child and was placed on eighteen months probation. He was the first General Authority in the twentieth century to be excommunicated since Apostle Richard R. Lyman in 1943 for adultery and the first General Authority to be excommunicated for apostasy since Apostle Amasa Lyman (Richard Lyman’s grandfather) in 1870.

What happened to the glittering "success story" of the "redeemed" and spiritually authoritative young General Authority, seen by many as the literal fulfillment of Book of Mormon promises about the rise of the "Lamanites" in the last days? Below is a chronology pieced together, except where noted, from public records.

As a General Authority, Lee spoke only six times in general conference in almost fourteen years, at intervals of six months, two years, two years, two years, and three years. He had not spoken for almost four years when he was excommunicated. This pattern of public visibility should not be automatically susceptible to a negative interpretation. At the October 1976 general conference, a policy was announced of "reconstituting" the First Quorum of the Seventy by transferring all Assistants and beginning to call new seventies to that quorum (and later to a second quorum as well). Six months later in April 1977, the general conferences were cut from three days, the usual length for most of the twentieth century, to two days. Thus, the number of available speaking slots decreased by a third. From that point on, typically all members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve who were physically able addressed the conferences with other General Authorities speaking as time permitted. Speaking assignments could be three or four years apart before a Seventy s turn came up.

However, the topics which Elder Lee addressed may, in retrospect, show some significance. Speaking as a General Authority, Elder Lee gave the following six addresses:

1. "My Heritage Is Choice" (Ensign, November 1975, 100-101), his first address as a General Authority, was explicit and proud about his ethnic identity. He began by quipping, "I finally realized how General Custer must have felt," and expressed pride that he was "a child of the Book of Mormon people. I have found my true heritage; I have found my true identity." He also expressed pride as "a descendant" (presumably spiritual) "of Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, Chee Dodge, Chief Crazy Horse" and assured Indians on "reservations and in the cities of our country and through the islands of the sea …. .. that Heavenly Father loves you." He called on all members of the Church "to join hands as children of God" and warned, "You will not find [the] United States in paradise. - - - I will not find an Indian reservation in paradise. - - -You will not find China in paradise."

2. "‘But They Were in One,"’ (Ensign, May 1976, 99-100), again contained ethnic references to "my people," bore a strong testimony to the greatness of Spencer W. Kimball, and described "heaven" as the "brown faces and white faces together" that he saw in the tabernacle. Then he issued a strong call for social justice, reminding his hearers of the ideal Book of Mormon condition in which poverty was eclipsed by sharing and service, and asking, "Will you go out of this building and out into the world and deal justly with your fellowmen7 Or will yoti compromise gospel principles and standards?"

3. "Staying Unspotted from the World," (Ensign, May 1978, 27-29), delivered when he was president of the Arizona Holbrook Mission, was a strong appeal to young people to "let virtue and purity be your shield and armor, and you will be invincible," to pray continually (he told of being mocked by his own brothers for praying in the hogan, but "a Navajo boy, coming from very simple, humble, poor circumstances because he was on his knees, became a polished instrument of God"), to "stand up for the Lord, even against your own flesh and blood, even against your own brothers and sisters, even against your own loved ones and friends" (he described fighting off four of his brothers who tried to hold him down and pour liquor into him), to "become obedient to your parents, to your priesthood leaders, and to the Lord," and to search the scriptures. "You’re too choice, you’re too innocent, you’re too sweet and too pure to lose." I was then on the editorial staff at the Ensign. The talk that Lee had originally prepared and had submitted to the magazine staff and translators was a ringing call for the "Gentile" members of the Church to become the "nursing fathers" and "nursing mothers" to the Lamanites that the Book of Mormon assigned them to be and which, to this point, Lee implied, they had failed to do. A few days later, this "social justice" address was withdrawn on instructions from the First Presidency’s office and replaced with the address to young people that he actually delivered. Magazine staff members speculated that the reason for the substitution may have been the accusatory tone in which Lee called the Mormon Gentiles to "repentance" for their mistreatment of the Indians.

4. "‘Acquaint Thyself with Him, and Be at Peace" (Ensign, November 1980,65-66) quoted six scriptures from the New Testament and two from the Old Testament but none at all from the Book of Mormon, made no references to Indians or Gentiles, and contained no ethnic allusions. Instead, it cataloged the sins and dangers of the last days and urged members "to develop a more personal relationship with the Lord." (Ironically, he was immediately followed by Elder Gene Cook speaking on "Miracles among the Lamanites," a description of conversions in Latin America.)

5. "‘Behold My Beloved Son, in Whom I Am Well Pleased,"’ (Ensign, November 1982,73-75) was a strong affirmation of the centrality of Christ’s atonement and of Elder Lee’s testimony of Christ’s divinity.

This same general conference, October 1982, was the last conference addressed by President Kimball. At age eighty-eight, he underwent surgery for subdural hematomae that greatly impaired his ability to speak. He attended some sessions with decreasing frequency and, finally, not at all, until his death in November 1985 when he was succeeded by President Ezra Taft Benson, who promptly called for a rededication of members to the Book of Mormon. During Kimball’s final illness and afterwards, the Indian Placement Program was sharply curtailed, a number of Indian services at BYU and on the reservations were cut back or eliminated, and, according to Lee, full-time missionaries were removed from Indian reservations. Lee gave only one more talk in general conference

6. "Can There Any Good Thing Come Out of Nazareth?" (Ensign, November 1985, 22-24) reminded his listeners that the Saints have always been "scorned for no other cause than for preaching the truth in its fulness and purity, and for standing up in defense of holy and pure principles revealed from God." He pointed out that Jesus was poor from the manger to the cross," and then launched into a series of personal expressions, some of which he repeated as part of his defense at his excommunication and which, in retrospect, carry a double message: "I will pray for our critics and enemies. I will be patient and long-suffering toward them and will return kindness, prayer, and righteousness. ... There is no priesthood of the Son of God that authorizes any one man to oppress another or to intrude upon his rights in anyway. We ought to be a brother and a friend to all men everywhere. We ought not to entertain a ‘Big I’ and a ‘Little You’ feeling toward our neighbors and fellowmen. .. . If there are any in our own flock who err, let us try to reclaim them by kindness and long-suffering. If there are any among us who have a bad spirit, let us show them a better spirit.... Amen to the priesthood or the authority of any man of God who exercises control, dominion, or compulsion upon a fellow being outside of the Church or upon a fellow member in the Church in any degree of unrighteousness."

He did not address a general conference again. Immediately after his excommunication, Lee released two hand-written letters, undated and unsigned, that had obviously been written in the heat of emotion and which contained numerous spelling and punctuation errors. The two had considerable overlapping material.

The first document is a fifteen-page letter that he had written to the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve some months earlier, consisting of an introductory statement and two lists of rhetorical questions/accusations, the first numbered "a" through "w" and the second 1 through 51, followed by a plea for understanding and acceptance. In a newspaper interview at the time of his excommunication, he said he had landed in trouble for questioning Church leadership "two years ago," or about the fall of 1987.

The second is a twenty-three-page document that he had read at his disciplinary council setting forth his theological views, asking a number of rhetorical questions and listing ten reasons why he felt the other General Authorities had already rejected "the fullness of the gospel."

Both letters charge Church leadership with abandoning or neglecting the scriptural mission to the Indians and usurping their proper place as "true Israel" as the Gentiles are only "adopted" Israel. They had neglected the poor, abused their priesthood authority, and been guilty of "pride, arrogance, and unrighteous dominion." Harshly, he accuses: "You are slowly causing a silent subtle scriptural and spiritual slaughter of the Indians and other Lamanites. While physical extermination may have been one of (the] Federal governments policies long ago, your current scriptural and spiritual extermination of Indians and other Lamanites is the greater sin and great shall be your condemnation."

Both letters identify disagreements and events which, although they are not dated, suggest a sequence. According to the first letter, at some point, he was instructed "not to pray or talk about Lamanites or the poor." One woman in an East Bench ward in Salt Lake City about 1984-85 told me that Lee "offended" the members of her congregation when he spoke at her ward’s reunion by accusing the members of being materialistic and greedy and of turning their backs on the poor. She felt that he primarily blamed the women in the audience and contemptuously told the men to "say no" when their wives asked for "another fur coat."

He charges that someone among the General Authorities (not necessarily a single individual) wrote a letter "falsely" accusing him of "polygamy and teaching false doctrine." (A teacher at BYU told me that Lee had interviewed her when she was hired. She recalled her confusion at being asked questions about her belief in polygamy. Possibly he had made a number of such comments or brought it up in a number of settings.) In an interview immediately after his excommunication, Lee said that these charges of "polygamy" and "‘immorality"’ were made after he was already "in trouble." Apparently, Lee then "faithfully and honestly opened up to you in his attempts to answer your questions and false accusations with a presentation on the chalkboard."

Apparently a cycle of unresolved conflict then began. Lee claims he was put "on probation without fair hearing" by someone whom he accused of "delight[ing]" in "acting as judge, jury and executioner at the same time." It is not clear who imposed this discipline. The logical body would be the seven-man presidency of his quorum, though he later refers to meeting with "apostles" and protests different "disciplinary practices, rules and traditions … for the 70’s … [than for] the twelve." He was excommunicated by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve.

Nor is it clear what he means by "probation" although he claims he was "stripped … of all assignments after he spoke out in a meeting because he was hurt and was being punished without the Lord’s justice and mercy." Lee then "sincerely and humbly apologized and asked for your forgiveness and love in a wonderful June meeting," said he "fully and completely trusted you and told you he sustained you 100% as apostles and prophets," and promised that he "would never teach... what he shared with you." Those present in the meeting told him that he was forgiven and was "completely off probation." However, he says, he was denied an assignment in an area presidency, "prohibited … from dividing and reorganizing stakes and denied … week-end assignments except that he went with someone else."

A few paragraphs later, he repeats that he had been denied "certain important assignments such as dividing and reorganizing stakes since 1975." Although this date is extremely clearly written in his own handwriting, it cannot be correct. He was not called as a General Authority until October 1975. It seems improbable that a General Authority would be immediately denied one of the most routine functions of a General Authority as soon as he was called. A more likely date would be 1985, after Ezra Taft Benson became president of the Church.

He also says he had been called "‘apostate’ ‘rebellious’ ‘sick’ ‘crazy’ ‘listening to the wrong voice’ ‘speaking against leadership’ ‘dark clouds over your head’ and etc." He describes "heartaches, mental and psychological stress" caused to him and his family and says he had experienced "disdain, snobbery, ridicule, rejection and conditional selective love" from the other General Authorities.

He describes his hurt, warns of "arrogance" in how he had been treated, and concludes this first letter with an impassioned plea for acceptance. "I am crying out to you. I need your full trust, confidence, and unconditional love. I feel like the only person who completely trusted me was President Kimball.... To me you are not a true disciple or an apostle of the Lord if you refuse to let go of your hostility or unkind feelings toward me." He expressed complete support for them, described defending them in the field, and longed to "receive all of my assignments back, this time with no strings attached," promising in return to accept any assignment and … go anywhere, anytime faithfully. … I’ll even go back to Australia [he had served as a member of the Pacific Area presidency, headquartered in Sydney, Australia, typically a three-year appointment], to Philippines, to China, to Russia, just anywhere."

Over the next several months, the situation was not resolved, although he was made second counselor to Elder Loren C. Dunn, president of the North America Central Area. It is not known what events precipitated the calling of the disciplinary council. Lee’s second letter, apparently read at this disciplinary council, repeats considerable material from the first letter. He describes what he sees as the different roles of "true Israel" and "adopted Israel," and then brands as "false teachings" the doctrine that all members of the Church can be the "‘remnant of the House of Israel."’ He then accuses the General Authorities of fostering a "white supremacy, racist attitude, pride, arrogance, love of power, and no sense of obligation to the poor, needy and afflicted," of usurping the chosen place of the Lamanites, of "betraying and turning your backs on the very people on whom your salvation hangs," and of profiting from their positions by expense-paid trips, "board memberships and meetings, royalty from written books, and all donations and gifts from friends, speaking engagements and etc."

At the end of the meeting in which he read this letter, on 1 September 1989, Lee was excommunicated by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve for "apostasy and conduct unbecoming a member." There is no way of knowing what, exactly, either charge meant, given their refusal to be explicit. According to an article in the Deseret News, "Church officials declined to comment on the specifics of the excommunication, saying that such actions are private and they desire to avoid further embarrassment to Lee or his family. But they said the action was taken only after lengthy and considerable study, thought and deliberation. It was not a precipitous action." They also "emphasized their commitment to Indian or ‘Lamanite’ people, not just in the United States but all over the world." These church officials were not identified; but Bruce L. Olsen, managing director of public communications, said, "‘The work among the Lamanite people of the world has accelerated, and great progress is being made."’ He was probably the "church spokesman" whom the article quoted as saying, "The Indian people are loved by LDS Church leaders and the Church has, and will continue to have, strong and significant programs for them."

The question of sexual impropriety came up immediately. Responding to a reporter after his excommunication, Lee specifically denied that the excommunication was for "‘moral misconduct."’ He said "Mormon officials had accused him of polygamy and ‘immorality,’ both of which he denied. When those charges didn’t stick, they accused him of apostasy." In 1993 when criminal charges were filed against Lee, a Church spokesman said "they were unaware at the time [of the excommunication] of the sexual-abuse allegations." Despite the Church’s silence and Lee’s denial, however, it is not impossible that allegations of sexual misconduct were known among the other General Authorities, for simultaneously with the period of probation and the pattern of intensifying ostracism, Lee was turning to children for sexual gratification and had been doing so since at least 1986, three years before his excommunication.

According to newspaper accounts spanning the time period between the filing of charges and Lee’s plea bargain, there may have been additional victims. A story published two days after he was charged states: "Other possible victims are alluded to in the report, but officials say that for now, only incidents involving the l2-year-old will be prosecuted." A second newspaper story quoted sheriffs officials as saying "others allegedly have made similar allegations against Lee." A third news story, published in May 1994, reported that Lee’s attorney had filed a motion "asking the judge to exclude ‘any evidence of other misconduct or bad acts concerning defendant’s sisters-in-law … for the reason that said incidents, even if true, are irrelevant.’ The motion did not elaborate on the ‘misconduct or bad acts."’

The case for which Lee was prosecuted was his sexual abuse of a neighbor child, identified in this account as Karen (a pseudonym). As related, sometimes piecemeal, in newspaper accounts, this is what happened: In 1986, when Karen was nine her family lived near the Lee family in West Jordan, in Salt Lake Valley. She was near the age of one of the Lee daughters, and her brother was close in age to one of the Lee sons. According to David Sanders, Lee’s attorney, George Lee "‘was a good friend to the family for years and assisted them financially."’

Karen testified that she knew he was a "‘a religious leader,"’ and prosecutors filed the charge as a first-degree felony "because he ‘occupied a position of special trust to the victim’ as a Church leader. . She considered ‘Brother Lee’ a family friend and important man in the Mormon Church, of which she is a member."’

Beginning in 1986 when she was nine, she says, she accompanied Lee’s family to Lake Powell. In the motel, Lee lay down on the bed between his daughter and Karen and began "‘telling us stories and scratching our backs."’ Then he "‘put his hand inside my panties, on my buttocks," Karen testified. After that incident, Lee "called her into the bathroom. ‘He told me that I shouldn’t tell anyone because the Lord had told him to do it and it should just remain between the Lord and him and me. I thought it was what I was supposed to do."’ She sometimes gave excuses to avoid visiting the Lee home and tried to stay with Lee’s daughter when she was there because she "felt safer." Karen also accompanied Lee and his daughter on church assignments outside Utah where he also fondled her.

At some unspecified point, Karen’s family moved to Phoenix. Then during the summer of 1989, Lee came to her home while he was on a church assignment and offered to take her and a brother back to Utah for a month-long vacation with his family. The month in question is not reported in the newspaper accounts; but since Karen accompanied Lee and his daughter to a conference assignment, at least part of it must have been in either June or August, since General Authorities are on vacation during the month of July. In either case, Lee was within weeks—and possibly within days—of excommunication.

During that trip, she went camping with the Lee family. Lee disappeared for a day and a night, then returned and brought her, her brother, and two of his children back to their West Jordan home. That night, he called Karen into his bedroom and had her sit on his bed. He told her that he had hiked to the top of a nearby mountain where he spoke "‘to the Lord and he told the Lord he’d fallen in love with me.... I was confused and taken aback about him speaking to the Lord and the Lord saying it was OK."’ Lee then began talking to her "about polygamy. ‘He said that it was going to be brought back to the Earth and we’d be asked to live it."’ She left the bedroom and went downstairs to the bedroom she was sharing with Lee’s daughter. Unable to sleep, she returned later to Lee’s bedroom, woke him up, and said, "‘I don’t want my father to have to take another wife.’ He said, ‘You don’t have to worry about it. He won’t have to."’ Lee then told her to lie beside him and caressed her breasts. Frightened, she left the room and returned to her bed, where she fell asleep. Still later that night, Lee woke her up and said "‘he was sorry he’d ever started touching me and that he’d never do it again."’

However, "almost every day" for the month, he continued the fondling: in her friend’s bedroom, in the family room, in the pool at the Deseret Gym, on a Heber Creeper train ride, and in hotels when they traveled to Canada. She testified later that there were "more than 20 touching incidents" that month.

Once as Lee wrestled with his daughter and Karen, he playfully held a pillow over his daughter’s face with one hand, kissed Karen’s neck, and put his hand down her pants.

However, after that month-long visit, the abuse ended. On 1 September 1989, Lee was excommunicated and did not see Karen again. He disappeared for four months in the Southwest. "‘I isolated myself like Moses did. … I had a real nice time going one-on-one with God,"’ he explained in an interview when he returned in early 1990. He found a job as principal of Tuba City High School in Arizona, while his wife and children remained in West Jordan.

In 1990, he became the running mate of former Navajo tribal chair Peter MacDonald. After a scandal forced MacDonald to drop out, Lee launched a write-in campaign that drew 11,000 votes and placed him third in the election. His success encouraged him to plan a 1993 campaign for tribal presidency.

Then in November 1992, Karen dreamed Lee was chasing her through a forest. "‘I was getting scareder and scareder. He was getting closer and closer,"’ she described it. The next morning, she told her parents. They reported the abuse to the Utah Department of Family Services. According to Sheriffs Deputy Rod Norton, "The FBI and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints assisted with the investigation" and the sheriffs report was filed in January 1993. Actual charges against Lee were not filed until Thursday, 29 July 1993. He was charged in Third Circuit Court with aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony that carries a sentence of five years to life in prison.

Lee, who was in Arizona when the charges were filed, promptly "negotiated a deal with school officials to resign in exchange for six or seven months of pay," and returned to Utah to surrender himself. Bail was set at $1,500, and he was released under orders to have contact with no one under eighteen and only supervised contact with his five children under eighteen. Because three other boys were staying with the family, he was required to find temporary living arrangements. Lee described himself as "‘confused by the charges"’ and claimed that he "was never alone with the girl." According to Sanders "the girl fabricated the incidents" and "‘my client says he is absolutely innocent."’

Lee’s wife, Katherine, stood beside him as he made his statement to the press and accompanied him to court with nine children. She expressed the family’s support:

"‘We love him very much. He’s been my husband for almost 26 years now. He’d tell me if he’d done something wrong, and he says he’s innocent."’ She expressed concern about the expense of defending against the charges and worried that they might have to sell their home.

On Friday, 30 July, the Tuba City Unified School Board, which had renewed his contract for a year in June, "reneged" on their deal with Lee, according to Sanders, voting to dismiss him "for cause." One unidentified board member commented, "‘He’s been disappointing to a number of us,"’ but a prepared statement by the board stated: "‘The district has no knowledge considering the truth of the allegations against Dr. Lee or the facts of those allegations.... In addition, the district has no information which would lead it to believe that conduct similar to that alleged against Dr. Lee’ in Utah ‘ever took place’ in Arizona." In addition to being fired, Lee also lost his chance for the tribal presidency. Poised to announce his candidacy in August 1993, he lost in the primary election after criminal charges were filed.

After his first court appearance and processing for bail in early August 1993, Lee issued a statement that he was "‘innocent before God. … This is my Garden of Gethsemane, and my people have gone through a lot of Gardens of Gethsemane. … What I’m going through is really nothing new for my people. … This is a trial in the valley for all of us, but the Great Spirit will help us." He predicted that "‘what’s happening to me may be a turning point for Indian people"’ and claimed, "‘This will trigger some great and powerful things. Get ready, get prepared spiritually and any other way. … The Great Spirit is about to bless you with some great things. … This also, I feel will set in motion a chain of events which will bring the anger and wrath of God against the Gentile nations. The ‘perpetrators or those who are doing this to me and my Indian people will be dealt with and punished by God. … They cannot get away with this. … I will overcome this one for myself, for my family and for [the Indian people]."’

His attorney, who had recommended against speaking to the press, said "he did not know who his client was specifically referring to, but suggested: "‘He identifies himself often with a lot of problems Indian people have. Indian people oftentimes have been treated unfairly or accused falsely and have been persecuted like he is now, but not necessarily for this particular crime."’

Lee refused to explain the "wonderful events," the "wrath of God against the Gentile nations" or whom he meant by "the perpetrators." He also "declined to answer a question about whether sexual improprieties played a role in his excommunication."

Katherine Lee, who was present with the children at the press conference, told reporters that Lee "loves children and has always taken them on trips. ‘It’s always a huge group. He’s never one-on-one with any child.’ She also balked at the allegation that her husband spoke with the girl about polygamy. She said that while he occasionally discussed polygamy as an aspect of Church history, he never espoused the practice. ‘I’m a one-man woman and that’s the way it will be whether he likes it or not,’ she quipped.... ‘Any wife would be disturbed’ at the allegations ... but said she is standing by him and knows he is innocent."

The immediate reaction of Lee’s supporters was anger at the Church. According to Romero Brown, a political supporter from Window Rock, Arizona, the charge was "‘obviously a political plot’ by the LDS Church to discredit Mr. Lee." He further claimed, "‘We were expecting something like this"’ because the Church was trying to "win back fallen members" who were part of Lee’s "‘huge following."’ According to Romero, the Church wanted "their tithing money." He also alleged that "state and federal officials also are scheming against Mr. Lee because he supports Indian sovereignty."

The preliminary hearing was held on 16 December 1993. The Salt Lake County attorney’s office tried to have the hearing closed to press and public, but Third Circuit Court Judge Robin Reese denied the motion. Karen, the state’s only witness, "wept several times" during her testimony. She told police that Lee had touched her breasts, buttocks, and genitals that night in his bed but, on cross-examination, told the defense attorney, Ron Yengich, that she was "sure" only that he had touched her breasts. Lee was bound over for trial.

In May 1994, he asked that Kenneth Rigtrup, the LDS judge of Third District Court scheduled to hear the case, disqualify himself and that no other LDS judge be appointed. "Lee said he has reason to believe he could not receive a fair and impartial trial because of potential bias and prejudice. ‘I am a former member of the Council of the Seventy, was excommunicated, and since that time I have made statements derogatory to the Church,"’ Lee wrote. Rigtrup had offered to have the case assigned to another judge in January "to avoid any potential claims of prejudice," but Lee did not accept the offer. Prosecutor James Cope said "the motion appears only to be an attempt to delay his scheduled trial."

When the case came to trial on 11 October 1994, Lee, now fifty-one, in a surprise move, pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse of a child, a third-degree felony. Seventeen-year-old Karen, who was in court with her parents, prepared to testify, "wept with relief’ as he looked directly at her, admitted "to touching the girl’s breasts for sexual gratification," and told the judge, "‘I want to say, your honor, that I’m very sorry. I’m sorry for whatever difficult times that I’ve put them through. None of this will ever happen again."’ Judge Kenneth Rigtrup placed Lee on eighteen months probation, and ordered him to pay a $1 ,850 fine, complete sex-offender counseling, write a letter of apology to Karen, and pay the costs of her counseling.

Assistant Salt Lake County Attorney Greg Skordas told the press: "‘The victim never wanted him to go to jail. She wanted him to get help, and she wanted someone to believe her."’ Prosecutors felt positive about accepting the plea bargain because they were not sure of a conviction. It was Karen’s word against Lee’s—" ‘not a slam-dunk case,"’ as Skordas put it. His boss, Salt Lake County Attorney David Yocom added that Lee was still considered "a ‘pillar of the community. - . . There is a tendency to believe someone like Lee, and that makes the state’s burden more difficult."’

Lee wanted to serve his probation in Arizona but would have to get permission to do so from his Utah probation officer. Lee and his attorney refused to comment, but Yengich in a news release said "Lee continued to enjoy the support of family and friends."

Many questions remain unanswered: Did Lee abuse other children besides Karen, including the sisters of his wife Kitty? Were there abuse victims earlier than Karen? What was the influence of his abusive activities on his "apostasy" and vice versa? What did other General Authorities suspect or know? What kinds of interventions did they attempt during his "probation" and why was he placed on "probation"? What support has been available for Kitty Lee through her bishop, stake president, and ward members? What efforts at fellowship and reclamation have been made by Lee’s former quorum? Since an abuser frequently abuses his own children, what therapeutic diagnoses have been offered to his children? And what kind of ecclesiastical support have Karen and her family received during their ordeal?

Sadly, one question has been answered all too clearly. Is ecclesiastical office any guarantee that a man will not become a sexual abuser? The answer is, "No."

Quelle: Chase Reports of the Mormon Alliance, Volume 1 1995, Chapter 4

George P. Lee – Trzoska, 26.9.04 um 8:27 Uhr
George P. Lee ein Heiliger? – Hexe, 26.9.04 um 23:05 Uhr
Wissenswertes über George P. Lee – Hexe, 26.9.04 um 23:42 Uhr

Mormonismus, Glaubensdoktrin, und die moderne Wissenschaft – Mykonos, 17.2.15 um 14:26 Uhr
Religiöse Kosmologien als Sinnverstärker und Apologetik – Utnapischtim, 16.2.15 um 20:04 Uhr
"Psychologie der Religionen" – Mykonos, 16.2.15 um 18:03 Uhr
U.a. von Religionspsychologie bis zur Archäogenetik... – Utnapischtim, 16.2.15 um 11:46 Uhr
Du meinst: There’s life in the old dog yet - oder: Totgesagte leben länger – Mykonos, 16.2.15 um 1:58 Uhr
Unsicherheit? – Utnapischtim, 15.2.15 um 15:35 Uhr
Agonie...? – Mykonos, 15.2.15 um 14:47 Uhr
Bald ist es soweit: "nächste Tage = 2 Monate" – Utnapischtim, 15.2.15 um 12:14 Uhr
Auch von mir: herzlichen Dank – shana, 3.1.15 um 22:12 Uhr
Facebook und Co – Sappho, 3.1.15 um 20:12 Uhr

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