Utah judge: “This court is gonna do just exactly whatever Mr. McConkie says.” Listen to Kirton McConkie co-founder (a Mormon apostle’s brother) tell a story in 2017 of working to prevent a bishop from testifying in court case, possibly re: child sexual abuse.
How long have Utah judges deferred to the Mormon church’s lawyers?
Kirton McConkie, a Utah-based law firm with longstanding ties to the Mormon church, was co-founded by Oscar McConkie Jr., brother of Mormon apostle Bruce McConkie.
(Recently convicted David McConkie, a former stake president, is a grandson of Bruce: https://floodlit.org/a/a720/ .)
In a 2017 oral history interview, Oscar McConkie said he represented the Mormon church in a Utah case where he worked to prevent a bishop from testifying due to what McConkie called “clergy privileged” information.
McConkie said in the interview that when the judge saw McConkie enter the courtroom with the bishop, he called a recess and told the attorneys present that the court would do “just exactly” what McConkie said.
@floodlitorg Full article: https://floodlit.org/utah-judges-deferred/
Here is a transcription of McConkie’s words.
“A bishop had [been] subpoenaed to come and testify. Comes to me as represent – I represent the church. I make a motion to quash the subpoena based on the fact that the only thing the bishop knows about it is clergy privileged, and that he can’t be testifying about it.
“And, so I take the bishop down to the court and they’re trying the case, and as I walked in the judge recognized me and saw that I had a man with me, and he announces from the bench:
“‘For the record, I see Mr. McConkie and the bishop have arrived, we’ll take a 10-minute recess and you fine lawyers will meet with Mr. McConkie, and you’ll determine whether the bishop can testify, and if he can testify, what he can testify about.’
“And then he says for the record, ‘Now for the record, if it’s gonna help you lawyers in making this determination, this court is gonna do just exactly whatever Mr. McConkie says.’
“Now, you gotta practice law a long time to get that kind of, that kind of treatment.”
Source: Oscar W. McConkie Jr. (1926-2020) interview by Mark L. McConkie and Levi R. Smiley, June 26, 2017, Salt Lake City, Utah. Audio recording 2. Timestamps: 1:17:35 to 1:19:01. https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/record/53c8d732-0030-4e8e-a7c9-0cff14b8eb3c/0. Accessed August 19, 2025.
The interview recording is publicly available at the Church History Catalog website, but you must be logged in as a registered user in order to request access.
In the interview, McConkie did not say whether the case involved allegations of abuse.
However, Floodlit has learned of multiple child sex abuse cases in Utah where McConkie represented the Mormon church and was involved in efforts to prevent bishops from testifying.
Floodlit.org is trying to determine whether McConkie was referring to the case of Theodore Lee Livingston (AKA Ted Livingston) of Utah: https://floodlit.org/a/b338/
Some of the facts of Livingston’s case appear to line up with McConkie’s description.
A Jan. 5, 1989 Provo Daily Herald article reported that Livingston, then 49, faced “two counts of sexual abuse of a child stemming from alleged incidents involving two girls which occurred sometime between the middle of May and June, 1988.”
r/exmormon – Utah judge: “This court is gonna do just exactly whatever Mr. McConkie says.” Listen to Kirton McConkie co-founder (a Mormon apostle’s brother) tell a story in 2017 of working to prevent a bishop from testifying in court case, possibly re: child sexual abuse.
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/469677295/
Livingston was “a long-time employee of Mountainlands Association of Governments.”
Utah County Attorney Steve Killpack said that “[o]ne of the witnesses subpoenaed to testify during the preliminary hearing is a ward bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
Killpack “indicated he has been contacted by LDS church attorney Oscar McConkie, who asked him to withdraw the bishop’s subpoena,” according to the article.
Killpack said McConkie “intended to oppose the subpoena ‘on the basis of priest-penitent privilege.'”
However, the article notes that “an 8th Circuit Court clerk in American Fork said the court had not received a formal motion to quash testimony of any subpoenaed witness in the Livingston case.”
Another similar case involved child sexual abuse by Steven LeRoy Hammock of Utah: https://floodlit.org/a/a150/
Steven Hammock, a Mormon, pleaded guilty in 1983 to two counts of forcible sex abuse of a child and served six months in an inpatient treatment facility.
The LDS church excommunicated Hammock, but during a civil suit filed in 1989 against Hammock by the victim, the church refused to divulge information that Hammock gave to church officials.
McConkie, along with Merrill Nelson and Von Keetch, represented the church.
(Nelson was later accused of helping to cover up child sex abuse allegations: https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2022/09/08/utah-rep-told-lds-bishop-not/ )
(Keetch later became a general authority for the Mormon church and defended its approach to abuse, calling it the “gold standard” for other religions to follow:
https://www.deseret.com/2010/6/5/20382633/mormon-media-observer-church-lawyer-sets-record-straight-on-child-abuse-column/ )
In 1994, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that a person’s conversations with clergy could not be revealed, even if they weren’t making a formal confession.
https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1349803/scott-v-hammock/
https://www.deseret.com/1994/3/8/19096014/conversations-with-clergy-are-privileged/
In 1997, a federal judge awarded $150,000 in damages to the victim.
Floodlit was the first reporting organization to disclose the damages amount. We made the amount public on May 2, 2025 after combing through court records.
McConkie was president of the Utah State Senate and twice was chairman of the state’s Board of Education. He died in 2020. Obituary:
https://www.larkinmortuary.com/obituary/view/oscar-w.-mcconkie-jr.-88/
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