Ritualistic Sex Abuse Charges Dismissed Against Admitted Child Abuser David Hamblin

Written by Derrick Broze

Several charges relating to abuse of a child were recently dismissed against accused child abuser David Hamblin after a long delay in his prosecution.

Several charges of child abuse against admitted child rapist and disgraced therapist David Hamblin were dropped for the second time in the last decade. Hamblin was facing six felony charges of child abuse in Utah County after he was arrested in 2022 as part of the Utah County Sheriff's Office investigation into ritualized child sex abuse.

In late March, Fourth Judicial District Judge Roger Griffin announced the charges were being dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled in the future. The charges against Hamblin were officially dismissed in February but Judge Griffin took the last month to decide whether to dismiss the charges with or without prejudice. Judge Griffin lambasted the prosecution calling the case "unusual for the quantity and quality of prosecutorial missteps" which he said "amount to more than a lack of preparedness".

The dismissal came after Hamblin and his defense team discovered the prosecution had withheld an interview with the alleged victim, and discussed "slow-walking" handing over the report.

Hamblin, a 70-year-old former therapist from Provo, was held in Utah County Jail from September 2022 to March 2023 when he was granted a 100k dollar bail. Hamblin had been arrested and charged by the Utah County Sheriff’s Office for multiple first-degree felony sexual offenses against a child. He was booked for 3 counts of sodomy of a child, 1 count of rape of a child, 2 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, and 1 misdemeanor count of lewdness involving a child.

Hamblin was the first suspect to be arrested in the Utah County Sheriff’s Office (UCSO) investigation into reports of ritualistic child sexual abuse from as far back as 1990. His ex-wife Roselle Stevenson was later arrested on similar charges and is still awaiting trial.

In May 2022, the UCSO announced they were working with multiple county and federal agencies on the investigation which originally began in April 2021. The investigation subsequently discovered previous reports alleging “similar forms of ritualistic sexual abuse and trafficking” that occurred in Utah County, Juab County, and Sanpete County during the time between 1990 and 2010.

A Failure of the State or the Sheriff's Office?

Judge Griffin offered harsh words for the Utah prosecutors attempting to convict Hamblin. Griffin noted that Hamblin had alleged the State was "engaged in a pattern of slow walking discovery" and preventing the defense from having a "fair opportunity to challenge evidence".

The state did not produce a report which Hamblin and his attorneys had been requesting for over a year until February 6th. Hamblin and team argued the report in question related to claims of "satanic sexual abuse" accusations against Hamblin from 2012. The prosecution had claimed the allegations of satanic abuse were separate from the individual incident of abuse Hamblin had been most recently charged with.

The reason this is significant is because claims of "satanic abuse" are not taken seriously by the courts, and are dismissed as the ravings of unfit, mentally unstable individuals. Hamblin's defense team argued that this association with claims of "ritual satanic sex abuse" was a "key weakness" in the case.

The court stated that without access to the report mentioning satanic abuse, Hamblin was unable to sufficiently argue his case. "The exculpatory evidence corroborated that a ritual satanic sex abuse allegation was in fact directly relevant to this case," the Judge wrote in his dismissal.

The judge also noted that according to the record, the allegations "indisputably" rely upon "recovered memories that are of some age".

"This case is rife with problems with evidence and discovery issues. These same sorts of problems also plagued a separate yet contextual case involving Hamblin in 2002," the judge wrote in reference to charges of sexual abuse of children Hamblin faced in 2002 and again in 2012. Both of those charges were dismissed as well.

Ultimately, the judge found that Hamblin credibly argued the report contained evidence that could be fairly classed as "exculpatory material". Since the prosecution did not produce this material in a timely manner the judge found they had violated the due process of law guaranteed by the U.S. and Utah Constitution.

The judge noted that over two years the State's own investigators "expressed a hope to withhold exculpatory evidence or to slow-walk its production to Hamblin's attorneys before a preliminary hearing".

Following the court's dismissal with prejudice, the Utah County Sheriff's Office released a rare response to the court's ruling disputing the "alleged facts" outlined by Judge Griffin:

"Contrary to that ruling, the Sheriff’s Office timely provided prosecutors with all evidence related to this case so that they could disclose it under the rules of discovery in criminal cases"

Regarding Hamblin's claim of failures to disclose evidence, the USCO said they "anticipated that the Court would resolve these issues at an evidentiary hearing where investigators could detail the evidence they had provided to the prosecution." Instead, the Sheriff's office claims, "at no time were investigators nor the victim given the opportunity to present any evidence to the court to refute the defense allegations of delay and improper withholding of evidence".

The UCSO says the lack of an evidentiary hearing meant the Judge was "was left to adjudicate these issues based on a one-sided presentation of these issues by the defense".

The UCSO also claims that the report in question was provided to the prosecutors in 2022, and the prosecution apparently confirmed this fact on February 5th.

"The court also relied on a concern that the defense raised concerning certain statements made by the victim. But had an evidentiary hearing been held, the victim could have provided critical context necessary to resolve the issues raised by the defense. Again, neither the investigators nor the victim was ever given the opportunity to explain themselves or address the defense allegations," the Sheriff's office stated.

Despite the back and forth accusations between the prosecution and the Sheriff's office, some investigators of the Hamblin case believe the UCSO deserve some of the blame for the dismissal. Go El, investigative researcher and writer at Investigations into Ritual Abuse, has publicly accused the Sheriff's office of failing to do their job.

"If the UCSO did in fact turn over the reports and discoverable material in question to the first special prosecutor Ryan Peters, it should have said so publicly when the defense first raised the allegation that those materials were not turned over," Go El wrote in response to the UCSO statement.

David Hamblin is still facing six felony charges of aggravated sexual abuse of a child in Sanpete County with a hearing set for Wednesday. It is likely that Hamblin's team will move to dismiss these charges as well.

Hamblin's Alleged Victims React

In October 2022, The Last American Vagabond (TLAV) reported on the story of Kate Talley, the ex-wife of one of David Hamblin's best friends. Talley shared her experience with Hamblin and his use of "healing circles" to manipulate and abuse his victims. She says the dismissal of charges against Hamblin is emblematic of Utah's low conviction rates for sexual abuse.

"Utah has some really horrible statistics when it comes to prosecution and conviction for sexual assault, child sex, abuse, and rape," Kate Talley told TLAV. "We have a 11.7% prosecution rate and less than 3% conviction rate."

Talley places the blame on Judge Griffin and says that judges cover up for one another. In the state of Utah, many of the judges, prosecutors, and police are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church, which has a history of covering up abuse of children.

She pointed to the recent arrests of former Judge Kevin Christensen and the former Tremonton Fire Department Chief Ned Brady Hansen. Both men were arrested separately for different incidents of possession of child porn, but it has been revealed the two men had a sexual relationship with each other. While still serving as a judge, Christensen granted Hansen bail after he was charged with attempting to sexually exploit a minor.

Talley says this lines up with her experience of being trafficked for sexual abuse to peace officers, judges, and police.

"The good thing that has come from this is that there's a lot more awareness around it now because of independent journalists," Tally stated. "The effects of the abuse, the incest, the ritual abuse, the sex abuse, and other forms of depravity in Utah, it's really starting to show up and it's on people's radar now."

Utah Governor Signs Bill Recognizing Ritual Abuse

Despite Judge Griffin's effort to dismiss charges against Hamblin which relate to "satanic abuse", the state of Utah recently passed a bill recognizing ritual abuse as a unique crime. On March 25th, Utah Governor Cox signed the H.B. 66 Ritual Abuse Amendments with very little media coverage.

The bill requires current sexual assault and sexual abuse training for law enforcement officers to include training on sexual assault committed during a ritual and the impact of that conduct on the victim. It also creates an aggravating factor for certain offenses committed against an individual under 18 years old if the offense was committed as part of a ritual.

At a February hearing for the bill, Cara Baldree testified about her experiences and in favor of the bill. She shared her disturbing story of ritualistic abuse, including her abuser "calling on unknown dark beings in exchange for power".

" My own perpetrator would tell me I was invisible, which is exactly what it felt like," Baldree testified in February. "I endured constant threats of him murdering me and my family if I didn't obey. So I obeyed and I never said anything because I was trying to keep my family alive."

While TLAV cannot prove the accusations for certain, we take serious the claims of ritualistic abuse and will continue to investigate these claims. We will also continue to report on the developments in the case against David Lee Hamblin.