DALLAS — A judge who won a Supreme Court ruling in favor of a polygamous Mormon couple’s right to marry has died.
Family members said Judge Milia Berner was killed Tuesday night.
The couple was married in Arizona and have two children.
The couple, Patricia and Peter, had been fighting over custody of their daughters, who they said were not their legal guardians.
After Berner’s death, the couple’s attorney, David Boal, said the couple wanted custody of the children.
They had filed for divorce in 2013.
Boal said Berner had told them in an email that they were not a family and she was not willing to live with them.
He said she was a “morally bankrupt judge” who would not be able to deal with children.
Boal has called the ruling a historic victory for the couple and called it a “shameful moment for our state.”
He said Berninger “knew she was in a terrible place” when she issued the divorce decree in 2013 after years of litigation.
He said Berneer was a mother to three young children.
