of baptism through repentance, and redeem a part of their allotted time." Brigham Young, Smith's successor in the LDS Church, initially held views on capital punishment similar to those of Smith. On January 27, 1845, he spoke approvingly of Smith's toleration of "corrupt men" in Nauvoo who were guilty of murder and robbery, on the chance that they might repent and be baptized. On the other hand, on February 25, 1846, after the Saints had left Nauvoo, Young threatened adherents who had stolen wagon cover strings and rail timber with having their throats cut "when they get out of the settlements where his orders could be executed." Later that year, Young gave orders that "when a man is found to be a thief,...cut his throat & thro' him in the River." Young also stated that decapitation of repeated sinners "is the law of God and it shall be executed." There are no documented instances, however, of such a sentence being carried out on the Mormon Trail. In the Salt Lake valley, Young acted as the executive authority while the Council of Fifty acted as a legislature. One of his main concerns in the early Mormon settlement was theft, and he swore that "a theif [sic] should not live in the Valley, for he would cut off their heads or be the means of having it done as the Lord lived." In Utah, there existed a law from 1851 to 1888 allowing persons convicted of murder to be executed by decapitation. Being "destroyed in the flesh" for violation of celestial marriage covenants The most immediate precursor to the blood atonement doctrine stems from a controversial section of Mormon scripture dictated by Smith in 1843 commanding the practice of plural marriage (D&C 132). This revelation stated that once a man and a woman enter the "New and Everlasting Covenant" (a celestial marriage), and it is "sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise" (which Smith later taught was accomplished through the second anointing ritual). If a sealed person shed innocent blood, they would suffer the fate of David, who was redeemed, but fell short of his exaltation, and did not become a joint-heir with Christ (D&C 132:39), since a murderer is not forgiven in the sense that he will not enter the Celestial kingdom. Nonetheless, although his sins fall under the category of unpardonable, he is not considered a son of