Only in Utah...

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

6:38 PM - Only in Utah...
Category: Religion and Philosophy

So I get home today and I start up the laptop to get some things done... and the google desktop streams this story... read the headline and then wait until you see the age of the 'child' they kidnapped...

Parents to Stand Trial in Kidnapping


Thursday December 7, 2006 12:31 AM


AP Photo UTDP106

By DEBBIE HUMMEL

Associated Press Writer

PROVO, Utah (AP) - A couple accused of kidnapping their daughter to prevent her from getting married were ordered to stand trial Wednesday after she emotionally described how they grabbed her by the hair and pressed her against a van at a rural gas station.

On the witness stand, Julianna Redd Myers, 21, said her parents described her fiance, now her husband, as ``wicked and evil.''

She said her parents, Lemuel and Julia Redd of Monticello, picked her up Aug. 4 for a quick shopping trip to get special religious clothing, a day before her scheduled wedding at the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City.

But once in the van, she realized they had other plans.

Myers said they drove south and then east toward Colorado, where the Redds already had a hotel reservation.

They stopped at a gas station in Salina, 175 miles west of the Colorado line, where Myers used the bathroom.

When she emerged, Myers testified her parents forcibly grabbed her by the wrists and hair, claiming she was breaking the Fourth Commandment, which says to honor parents.

They continued the trip, spent a night in Grand Junction, Colo., and returned to Provo the next day.

At one point, according to Myers, her parents asked: ``Are you prepared to go to the temple without us? I said, 'I will. I don't want to but I will.'''

Julianna and Perry Myers were married Aug. 8 in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple.

Fourth District Judge James Taylor did not immediately set a trial date on the second-degree kidnapping charge but set a scheduling hearing for Jan. 11. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

Outside court, defense attorneys Dean and Rhome Zabriskie said they would talk to prosecutors about a plea bargain.