My understanding is that Mark Hoffman was not charged or prosecuted for murder in his criminal trial.If he was prosecuted for murder,the death penalty would have been sought.It would have caused Gordon Hinckley as the next in line to be the prophet to be called as a witness.

Mormon apologists claim the church had no influence in the decision to not prosecute Mark for murder,and only deal with the charges of forgery.The prosecutor was David Yocom.I have seen a youtube video of a Mormon apologist professor claiming the church no role in the decision about prosecuting Mark Hoffman.

Was that prosecutor a Mormon himself?Why would he suddenly choose not to go for the death penalty for the way mark Hoffman set the bombs and killed 3 people?

All I remember is that it appeared that the church wanted the prophet to avoid the witness stand (like you said) and also to end the publicity.

So, Mark got off with less. It's laughable to think the church was not behind the scenes doing whatever would keep the church out of the spotlight. Controlling their image was a big deal back then.

Sorry I can't answer your question specifically though.

Wikipedia to the rescue! From that site:

"Hofmann was arrested in January 1986 and charged on four
indictments totaling 27 counts, including
first-degree murder, delivering a bomb, constructing or possessing a bomb, theft by deception, and communication fraud. A fifth indictment, containing an additional five counts
of theft by deception, was added later in January.

Hofmann initially maintained his innocence. However, at a preliminary hearing, prosecutors produced voluminous evidence of his forgeries and debts, as well as evidence linking him to the bombs.

Hofmann not only faced the prospect of the
death penalty in Utah, but was indicted on federal charges of possession of an unregistered machine gun. New York prosecutors also sought an indictment for the fraudulent sale of the Oath of a Freeman. In January 1987, Hofmann pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, one count of theft by deception for forging the Salamander Letter, and one count of fraud for the bogus sale of the McLellin collection. He agreed to confess his forgeries in open court, in return for which prosecutors in Utah and New York dropped additional charges against him. He was sentenced to five years to life, but the judge recommended that Hofmann never be released."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Hofmann

My guess is that in order to not have to seek the testimony of Gordon B. Hinckley and other LDS church leaders, the prosecutor put the pressure on Mr. Hoffmann to plead guilty. In the end, Mr. Hoffmann agreed to plead guilty to some charges if the first-degree murder charges were reduced to second degree and if some of the counterfeit and forgery charges were dropped.

More interesting to me is why no movie has ever been made about these events. It has a more intriguing story line than any fiction. All the elements of a good thriller. Does the church really have that kind of power?

> Does the church really have
> that kind of power?


I opine that in Utah, it does.

In the Hofmann case, all it took was for either the lead prosecutor or his boss, or a judge with no qualms about abusing his office.

Recall that the mormon-influenced Utah legislature overturned the voting results of the 'legalize marijuana' initiative. Those legislators were following orders from the COB.

How do you prove you're a good Mormon? You bow to the will of the prophets.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent did an episode loosely based on Hofmann appropriately titled "The Saint" in which the Hofmann character is played by Stephen Corbert.

It occurred to me that the closest thing sensational-wise to the Hoffman case, is the Lori Vallow case.

I think an all-Mormon jury would be quick to convict Lori and Chad, because they L&C made Mormonism look not only evil, but silly. I don't know which is worse.

As far as the LDS Church intervening in these cases, of course they will intervene and in the LV matter, they already have.

But what conclusion will a jury have after they hear testimony from witnesses carefully prepared by church lawyers before they testify?

A mormon conclusion?

The best outcome from the Church's POV is that the case never goes to trial and L&C go to prison forever and people stop talking about this.

Ain't gonna happen.

Both Lori and Chad have pled not guilty. There's going to be trials, lots of trials, and plenty of stuff to talk about.

Lori loveslovesloves attention. I think Chad does too, but I KNOW Lori does. So how is she gonna get attention if she agrees to a plea deal and just fades away.

Lots of witnesses, lots of stories, more weird stuff to be revealed.

So here we go.

I forgot to add, Ervil, that your trial caused quite a sensation back in the day.

After you were incarcerated in prison, you asked your guards to blood atone you because you had been playing with yourself.

Murder is one thing, but masturbation????

Everyone knows that is a no-no.

Hah!

BTW, It's spelled H-O-F-M-A-N-N...

I won't go into my "connections" because it would involve disclosing IRL information about others, but having lived in "Small Lake City" all of my life, I've noted before how reading the books about the case is an exercise in "old home week."

The best volumes on the case are "The Mormon Murders" and "Salamander"; you can find more about them with a Google search. The LDS spin-tale on the subject was "Victims," and it amounts to pure curelom dung...

The case was complicated, and if I remember correctly, Gene Throckmorton was the individual who pieced together Hofmann's tangled web of lies and deceit. Throckmorton is LDS, BTW.

The political pressure was enormous, and if my aging memory serves, the final settlement occurred after Yocum left office.

Hinckley was de facto leader of the LDS Church by thid time, and he simply stonewalled the investigation.

should have been prosecuted as a FEDERAL CRIME (explosives!!!)

As I recall there is quite a bit written about this "David Yocom" you can find much of it in Mormon Murders. He was an Italian-American and a sort of no nonsense professional who thought nothing of busting through church ranks to get what he needed. He wasn't awed by their pretentious superiority, and was irritated that the secretary wasn't getting him access to the GAs. There were calls placed to Hinkley's office and threats made to resort to legal actions to persuade Oaks and Hinkley to willing cooperate, and even answer questions. Somehow they were under the false notion that they were above having to submit to questioning like an ordinary citizen would have to do.

David Yocom was not a mormon he was from New York, and was one of the best.

https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/officials-celebrate-opening-of-new-district-attorney-building/

This from a year-and-a-half ago...

>>25 years after its inception, the new District Attorney building on 500 South is “a dream come true,” said former D.A. Dave Yocum.

>>Yocum had wanted a new county-owned building when he was in office, but it never came to fruition. Friday, he and other county officials cut the ribbon to the brand new building.

I keep wondering what ChurchCo involvement didn't rise to the surface of this situation.

- Could it be worse than ChurchCo knowingly bought Hofmann's forgeries bc they (GAs) were afraid that members would be misled?

Or, did they not know his items were forgeries? Did he EVER find & publicize something genuine?

Either way, ChurchCo put $$$ into the hands of Hofmann a con artist (Discernment???) who later murdered church members.

Some of his early sales were, I've read, genuine. He just got to the point where he thought he could do "genuine" better, and more lucratively, than the original authors.

The church didn't know what was true or false. They opted for a catch-and-kill strategy whereby anything that might be embarrassing was relegated to the Lord's Vault. Some leaders came to believe Hofmann was selling forgeries but even they wanted primarily to get that stuff out of the public eye since the last thing they wanted to do was get into a spat with people like the Tanners and others who knew so much about Mormon origins.

Any claims as relating to the GAs 'gifts of discernment' were OPD / last nails in the coffin thanks to M. Hofmann; should we send him a Thank You?

All this rehash, over and over again about this bugger killer Markie.

Come on!

Someone please post here and tell us, if you know, how in hell in jail is this clever prick getting along?

The only thing I am aware of in jail was he supposedly "had an accident" that crippled his hand and arm and he'll never be able to forge a document again.

Also some of his work still circulates among collectors labeled a a Hofmann Forgery and being somewhat valuable.

I wonder if there are forged Hofmann 'originals'?

A friend who happened to be employed at the prison told me that the church did NOT want to go to trial.

They told Mark to plead guilty, go quietly to prison for life and his family would be "well cared for" in return.

Mark told my friend that "they" hinted that if the church leaders had to testify in court, they would "take care of" his family in a different manner.

My friend is now deceased and I can't prove it is true, but I absolutely believe it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2020 12:55AM by hollensnopper.