Defense attacks witness credibility in FLDS child sex abuse trial

PHOENIX (CN) — Defense attorneys in a federal trial in Phoenix spent most of Tuesday morning questioning the honesty of a witness who said she watched two Arizona men accused of aiding and participating in a child sex abuse ring involving girls as young as 9 years old have sex with children.

Naomi Bistline is one of seven women who pleaded guilty this year to obstruction of justice by helping Samuel Bateman — self-proclaimed leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — destroy evidence of a child sex abuse ring he orchestrated by marrying and sleeping with 10 underage girls. Bistline and at least 12 other adult women were married to Bateman, mostly against their will, between 2019 and his arrest in 2022.

Bateman pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to kidnap and transport young girls across state lines and admitted to having sex with his underage brides.

In the fifth day of trial, Naomi Bistline said defendants LaDell Bistline Jr. and Torrance Bistline participated in sex acts orchestrated by Bateman, which he called “sacred ordinances” or “atonement ceremonies.” But defense attorney Kathy Henry drew inconsistencies between Naomi Bistline’s testimony and her prior statements to the government.

Naomi Bistline said she was still brainwashed by Bateman when she first talked to the government in 2023, and believed she would be damned to hell if she told them the truth. Her second interview in August of 2024 matched up with her testimony Tuesday, prosecutor Dimitra Sampson said.

Naomi Bistline said she and other brides of Bateman were taken to one of his two houses on Nov. 1, 2021 for the atonement ceremony. She and the other women and girls were ordered to strip naked while Bateman prayed, dedicating the impending acts to God.

Naomi Bistline covered her mouth with her hand as tears welled in her eyes while she described how Bateman told her she was to be with LaDell Bistline Jr. and a 14-year-old girl was to be with Torrance Bistline.

“She told him to be with her through her butthole,” she continued. “To not make her pregnant.”

While this happened, LaDell Bistline Jr. had sex with Naomi Bistline against her will, she said, adding that she pleaded with Bateman to make it stop. At the same time, Bateman was having sex with one of his child brides, Naomi Bistline said.

She recounted another time in which both defendants watched via video call as Bateman had sex with child brides. She said Bateman ordered the viewers to strip naked, but she could only see whether the defendants removed their shirts.

Henry pounced on differences between her testimony and past statements. She referred to a proffer meeting between Naomi Bistline and the government on Feb. 22, 2023 in which Bistline told FBI agents that she never witnessed Bateman having sex with his child brides.

“If I said that, I lied,” Naomi Bistline replied from the stand. “I do not remember that whole proffer.”

“Are you saying you were overwhelmed and you lied?” Henry asked.

“I think so,” Naomi Bistline replied. Henry asked again if she was lying on the stand, to which Naomi Bistline said she wasn’t.

Henry pushed for specific details, like who showed up to the event in what car, trying to catch the witness in deeper lies. At the mid-morning break, she asked the judge whether it would be right to question the witness’s competency to participate in the trial.

Naomi Bistline was tested for competency when she was incarcerated in 2022, and was found to be easily confused, suffering from long term memory issues and struggle maintaining a logical train of thought, Henry said.

U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich dismissed the issue, but allowed Henry to ask the witness about those competency tests on the stand. Naomi Bistline said she was struggling to maintain a logical train of thought during the February 2022 proffer meeting, and doesn’t remember the specifics of what she said.

Defense attorney Jacob Faussette asked if Naomi Bistline trusted the government. She said she didn’t at first, which is why her initial statements weren’t truthful.

“So you lied to the government?” he asked.

“Yes,” she replied.

Sampson clarified with the witness that she told the whole truth in the second proffer meeting on Aug. 2, 2024.

“Did you complete the story?” Sampson asked.

“Yes,” Naomi Bistline replied.

“Could there have been some small details you missed like who got out of what car?” Sampson said, to which Naomi Bistline responded to in the affirmative.

Henry claimed that Naomi Bistline was promised probation in return for her testimony. Both Sampson and Bistline denied the accusation, saying she was only asked to tell the truth and plead guilty to one count in return for the rest being dropped.

Moretta Johnson, another wife of Bateman whom he impregnated when she was 17, corroborated Naomi Bistline’s story about the atonement. Unlike Naomi though, Johnson said she never witnessed LaDell Bistline Jr. have sex with any underage girls.

LaDell Bistline is indicted on two counts of using interstate commerce to entice a minor into sexual conduct, four counts of transporting a minor for sexual activity and one count of transferring obscene materials to minors.

Torrance Bistline is indicted on two counts of destruction of evidence, one count of using interstate commerce to entice a minor, conspiracy to destroy evidence, conspiracy to tamper with an official proceeding, and tampering with an official proceeding.

Seven of Bateman’s adult wives have pleaded guilty to similar charges, and some have already been sentenced to prison.

Follow @JournalistJoeAZ