Colorado City polygamist trial ends in guilty verdict
 
By Jim Seckler
Mohave Daily News
 
KINGMAN - A Mohave County jury convicted a Colorado City polygamist of having sexual relations with an underage girl.

Kelly Fischer, 38, was charged with one count of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor.

Late Friday afternoon the jury, made up of five women and three men, found Fischer guilty on both counts.

Fischer could face from four months to two years in prison. Fischer is also eligible to be sentenced to probation only. He could also face up to a year in county jail. Superior Court Judge Steven Conn will sentence Fischer Aug. 4.

Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith said the Fischer case was one of the weakest cases of eight similar cases he will try in court, because the victim did not testify at the trial.

Smith said several of the other codefendants may be easier cases to try because the victims will come forth to testify in those trials.

"This shows that the law applies equally to everyone, everywhere," Smith said afterward. "This affirms the work that Gary Engels has done in Colorado City. I'm very happy for him." Engels is the special investigator for the Mohave County Attorney Office who has been investigating charges of polygamists having sexual relations with underage girls.

In the coming months, Smith will try seven other codefendants belonging to a polygamist sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Colorado City near the Utah border.

Dale Evans Barlow, 47; Randy Joseph Barlow, 32; Terry Darger Barlow, 23; Donald Robert Barlow, 48; Vergel Bryce Jessop, 45; Rodney Holm, 38; and David Romaine Bateman, 48, are also charged with similar crimes.

The girls were between 15 and 17 years old when the alleged crimes took place. All the girls became pregnant at those ages. Arizona law states it is illegal to marry more than one person and illegal to have sex with a juvenile under 18 years old.

In opening arguments Thursday, Smith argued that Fischer impregnated a girl who was 16 years and four months old at the time.

The conspiracy charge states that Fischer also entered into an agreement with the victim's family to marry the girl through a church ceremony. The marriage, however, is not a legal marriage in the eyes of the state of Arizona.

The victim and her mother moved into Fischer's Colorado City home in 1997 or 1998 when the victim was about 13. A month after she turned 17, the victim gave birth to a baby girl. The birth certificate lists the victim as the mother and Fischer as the father.

The infant was born Aug. 13, 2001. The victim's birth date is July 12, 1984.

The Mohave County Attorney Office and sheriff deputies searched without luck for the victim or her mother after recent trips to Fischer's home.

In his opening remarks, Fischer's attorney, Bruce Griffen, asked the jury to consider the motives of two state witnesses, both former FLDS church members who still live in Colorado City.

Griffen said other than the birth certificate, there is no victim who will come forth, no eyewitnesses and no DNA evidence of the crime.

Griffen argued that there was no evidence on where the sexual act occurred and said any conspiracy was just speculation.

If the sexual act occurred in Utah that would make Fischer's crime invalid in Arizona, Griffen argued.
 
Mohave Daily News.com
Originally published July 8, 2006
 
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