Today’s Motion to Reconsider Bail hearing in Judge Larsen’s Manti courtroom featured all of the hijinks one might have expected. The public was present to a much greater degree than beforehand, with one Webex observer being booted from the webcast of the hearing for posting a hand clapping emoji. One Nathan Quintero, another observer via Webex, asked if he could interject and was promptly told that he could not by Judge Larsen.
David Lee Hamblin’s attorney, Leah Aston, argued that the State had not presented clear and convincing evidence in either the earlier American Fork hearing or today’s hearing that David Lee Hamblin constituted a current danger to the community or a threat to the victim or the community. Juab County Attorney Ryan Peters then proceeded to do just that, presenting the following:
Evidence that David Lee Hamblin had administered peyote to a 16 year old girl at one of his healing circles in 2020.
Evidence from Hamblin’s Custody Hearing in his divorce case, in which the court found by clear and convincing evidence that he had sexually abused two of his daughters.
Proof in the form of Hamblin’s own confession to abuse of patients in his therapy practice, for which Hamblin lost his license to practice psychology.
The American Fork case, which details allegations of a more serious nature than those in the Manti case.
Hamblin’s ongoing use of peyote and his administration of peyote to children, including the fact that he had a history of administering peyote to children, including all four of his daughters, plus the 2020 16 year old.
Judge Larson found that the State had carried its burden of presenting substantial evidence of David Lee Hamblin’s guilt, but that evidence was not sufficient to establish that he was a current danger to the two victims in his present cases or the wider community. Interesting, prosecutor Ryan Peters didn’t raise the possibility that Hamblin was a danger to victims whose cases have yet to reach the court. It is entirely likely that Hamblin knows, and his accomplices know, who he abused over the past forty years. It would have been a prudent tactical move to mention this, given that Peters also said there was at least one other victim whose case would be brought in the future. Sources have informed IRA that the Utah County Sheriffs have a list of twenty perpetrator names they are investigating.
Given that your average pedophile has anywhere from 150 to 180 victims over their lifetimes, the extrapolation would indicate that at minimum, the Hamblin CS group being investigated by the UCSO has at least 3,000 victims. Given that many of those named in the original Hamblin allegations from 2012-2014 are licensed therapists who treated children, and they are in their sixties and seventies, that number is likely higher.
Peters didn’t want to touch the possibility of this for obvious reasons: he does not wish to get into a debate over the existence of an LDS Church of Satan that operated with impunity for at least forty years in Utah. One could quibble over this choice by Peters, but IRA will not at the present time.
One of the victims’ attorneys, Heidi Nestel, argued that Judge Griffin only allowed the prosecution and defense attorneys in the American Fork case to present evidence in camera, without any formal hearing following. After the evidence was presented in camera, Judge Griffin issued his ruling granting David Lee Hamblin bail. This is unusual, but it is also within the prerogative of Judge Griffin. As a result, Ryan Peters and Heidi Nestel, as well as victims’ attorney Donna Kelly, were unable to follow up with the evidence linking Hamblin to the harassment of the American Fork victim.
That was not the case in Manti, where despite presenting evidence on a variety of matters and allegations outside of the instant case, Ryan Peters did not present a shred of evidence linking Hamblin to the harassment of the American Fork victim to establish that David Hamblin was and is a danger to the community. This is likely because Ryan Peters lacked that evidence.
In the end, Judge Larsen blew right past the 2020 allegation to rule that the State had failed to establish that David Lee Hamblin was a current danger to the victim or the community. Her chief concern appeared to be avoiding any ruling that would overrule or undercut Judge Griffin, who she repeatedly took great pains to show deference to throughout her hearing and her ruling.
Leah Aston argued that Hamblin should receive bail, cash or bond, rather than the $100,000 cash only bail that Peters requested. Aston argued that Hamblin could not afford $100,000 cash bond, but this was belied by the fact that Hamblin has managed to pay for six months worth of legal bills in two major criminal cases, and was standing before the court claiming that he would pay for a private probation firm to install his GPS and geofencing should he be released. No hard evidence was presented to substantiate David Lee Hamblin’s claims that he lacked $100,000 for cash bail, and Ryan Peters didn't even bother to challenge Aston on this point.
Judge Larsen ordered bail of $100,000 cash or bond for David Lee Hamblin, with the following conditions:
GPS monitoring and geofencing to ensure that Hamblin does not leave his residence except to attend meetings with his legal counsel.
Home confinement.
The surrender of his passport and passport card to his attorneys.
The surrender of any medical marijuana card and prescription.
Abstinence from drugs, including peyote and marijuana, as well as alcohol.
No contact with the victim.
No contact with anyone under the age of 18, including no minors in his home.
No criminal violations other than minor traffic violations, which presumably might occur while Hamblin was in transit to meetings with his attorneys.
Any violation will result in the revocation of bail.
Today’s hearing represents a setback for the prosecution, and for the survivors of David Lee Hamblin’s abuse. Leah Aston wasn’t done: she argued that Hamblin should be allowed to use peyote due to his religious membership in the Native American Church. She also noted that she had filed a motion to dismiss based on the statute of limitations in the Manti case, and the prosecution had already filed amended lower charges. Aston intends to go further, claiming that if the initial charges are dismissed, the amended lesser charges should also be set aside because the State should be collaterally estopped, or barred, from pursuing those lesser charges once the initial charges are dismissed with prejudice.
The simple answer to this is that her motion should be moot, because the prosecution has already effectively dismissed the initial charges by filing an amended information with lesser charges to avoid the bar of the statute of limitations. Nevertheless, on May 3rd, at 2:30 p.m. MT, the oral arguments on Aston’s Motion to Dismiss with prejudice and her secondary arguments for collateral estoppel will take place.
Even though six months have elapsed since Hamblin’s arrest, Aston claimed that the defense has not received the complete discovery file. This is despite the fact that both victims have requested a speedy trial, which they are entitled to under the Victims Bill of Rights in Utah. There is simply no conceivable excuse for the prosecution to have failed to turn over the complete discovery file six months after Hamblin’s arrest in either case, because the essential allegations and much of the evidence is clearly already assembled. By not proceeding expeditiously, it would appear that Ryan Peters and the Juab County Attorney’s Office left the door open for Ms. Aston’s machinations and maneuverings.
There’s a saying I’m fond of when considering government actions: they’ll plead guilty to incompetence to avoid conviction on corruption. It is simply inconceivable that the two current Hamblin cases would have taken the past six months without being closer to trial, given that the evidence is clearly in. Ryan Peters didn’t say that he needed more time to access additional evidence today. He was silent on why he had not turned over the discovery file to David Lee Hamblin’s attorneys. It was not a good look.
The statute of limitations highlights the key issue IRA is working on at the moment, which is the abolition of all civil and criminal statutes of limitations where sex crimes are concerned. That reform should have already been implemented, and we are determined to see it implemented in the future. The retroactivity of such abolition will be achieved by ratifying HJR 7, Rep. Ken Ivory’s constitutional amendment to the Utah State Constitution.
In 22 years worth of this work, losses are part of the job. For the perpetrators of ritual abuse and their accomplices, days like today are the weapon they wield to discourage survivors and the wider community from pressing forward. We lost today, and it is understandable that many readers and many of those in attendance at today’s hearings are discouraged. Get over it. This is going to be a long war. It will be 2024 before we get to vote on Representative Ivory’s amendment, and it will be 2025 before that amendment takes effect.
In the meantime, we must prepare for that eventuality by collecting the statements of victims, the available evidence to substantiate their claims, and we must do this in order to be ready when our day arrives. David Lee Hamblin won a battle today. We can be downtrodden and discouraged, but we only lose if we quit. To crib from the vernacular of Jenny Hatch: Fuck it.
We lost. So what? Nothing that happened to us today is worse than what the survivors of David Lee Hamblin’s abuse have endured. Take a minute to breathe, drink a Dr. Pepper, say a prayer, and get back up to fight. We’re not done.
Given the reality that men like David Lee Hamblin will always exist, we will never be done. Evil doesn’t expire until Christ returns. Sometimes the bad guys win a battle. The good news, if there is any, is that David Lee Hamblin is a pederast. That means he has recent victims. It’s just a matter of finding those recent victims and convincing them to talk, and helping them make their cases. Some of those victims are undoubtedly within the four year statute of limitations for civil suits, which puts them under 22 years of age.
From the beginning, IRA said it would take 12 to 18 months to locate victims, assemble their evidence, and bring them to civil and criminal courts in the best case scenario. This is going to take a long time. Anything worth doing does, but as it says in 1 Corinthians: with every temptation the Lord provides the means of escape. The temptation to quit has a built in means of escape: the decision to get back up and keep swinging. That is the answer to much of what ails our society and the fights against individuals like David Lee Hamblin.
Get up. Keep swinging.
Goel
Go el, thank you for this. I’m crying today, because I know so many of us survivors are feeling unsafe. Today I cry, and tomorrow I pick up my sword and shield. The battle continues.
Excellent!
I thought it was funny how Hamblin's attorney tried to exonerate and excuse his alledged lifetime of molestation, rape, torture, and murder by placing the blame squarely on internet journalists who are simply doing the work guaranteed by our first amendment for freedom of the press to function and work unmolested by criminals.
I was anticipating her naming names or pointing the finger of scorn at us for shinning some light in some very dark places.
Here is my first video report:
https://jennyhatch.substack.com/p/preliminary-video-report-on-the-david
I was interviewed today by ABC Utah and Derrick Brose at Last American Vagabond. Anxious to see how they report it.
I am so grateful for the twelve bravest people in Utah who showed up for the demonstration and the live courtroom hearing and for all who participated by watching online.
I would love to have you on my podcast again GoEl to talk about the hearing and also anyone who attended or listened to it online.
Cheers!
Jenny Hatch