Bigamy prosecutions of polygamists rare in Utah
 Only 2 men have been convicted in the past decade for polygamy
 
By Dennis Romboy
Deseret News
 
SALT LAKE CITY — Prosecuting polygamists for bigamy is rare in Utah.

In the past decade, only two polygamous men — Tom Green and Rodney Holm — were convicted of the third-degree felony, and a justice court judge was removed from office for that crime.

Whether county prosecutors decide to file charges against Kody Brown remains to be seen.

The Lehi man and his four wives and 16 children are the subject of a new TLC docu-series called "Sister Wives." The day after the show premiered Sunday night, the Lehi Police Department announced it is conducting a bigamy investigation of the family.

At their home Tuesday morning, the Browns referred questions to a TLC publicist who later issued a statement from the family.

"We are disappointed in the announcement of an investigation, but when we decided to do this show, we knew there would be risks. But for the sake of our family, and most importantly, our kids, we felt it was a risk worth taking."

Lehi Police Lt. Darren Paul said police became aware of the Browns in part because they planned to put themselves on TV.

"That played a role in bringing it to light. We started receiving calls from all over the place, wondering what we intended to do," he said, adding the inquiries came from various sources. "I don't care to be more specific than that."

Aside from traffic violations, he said there previously has not been "any major police involvement with the Browns."

Paul said police consulted with the Utah Attorney General's Office and the Utah County Attorney's Office before moving ahead with the bigamy investigation. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has reiterated several times that his office doesn't go after polygamists unless it suspects crimes such as child abuse, domestic violence and fraud. Decisions to file charges are left to local authorities.

Chief Deputy Utah County Attorney Tim Taylor said his office will review the case once Lehi police present it. Paul said he did not have a time frame for completing the investigation.

The lieutenant acknowledged bigamy investigations are rare, generally speaking and for his department specifically. Taylor said the county currently has a couple of bigamy cases, but they don't involve polygamists.

Utah's bigamy statute is unique. It reads: "A person is guilty of bigamy when, knowing he has a husband or wife or knowing the other person has a husband or wife, the person purports to marry another person or cohabits with another person."

The law applies not just to people who have obtained multiple marriage licenses, but also to those who are legally married to only one person, while engaging in other marriage-like relationships.

Green and Holm were legally married to one wife but also had "spiritual unions" with other women. In both cases, the state used cohabitation, or living together as husband and wife, as the standard for prosecution. The Utah Supreme Court applied the standard to oust Walter Steed from the Hildale Justice Court. He was not prosecuted. Green's and Holm's cases were also heard in the state's high court on appeal.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah takes exception to the law.

Constitutional freedoms "allow individuals to define the contours of their personal relationships and freely express their religious beliefs, as long as they do not harm the state or other persons. The ACLU of Utah believes that Utah's bigamy statute, which criminalizes the practice of spiritual plural marriage between consenting adults, violates these constitutional guarantees," it said in a 2006 position paper.

The Utah Supreme Court, though, has upheld the state's bigamy law on three occasions since 2004, ruling in the Holm case "that the Legislature intended 'marry' to be construed to include marriages that are not state-sanctioned. The Legislature has acknowledged that the attainment of a marriage license from the state is not determinative of whether a marriage exists."

Anne Wilde, co-founder of Principal Voices, a group that fosters communication between polygamists and government agencies, said Brown and his wives entered into their relationship as consenting adults who are following their religious beliefs.

"We think we should have the right to choose that," she said. "It's a religious principle. That's the reason we live it."

Wilde, who introduced the Browns to TLC producers for the show, said the family doesn't break laws, pays taxes, cares for the children and believes in education.

"All that Kody and his family were trying to do is educate people," she said. "We step forward, and we try to educate people and the law steps in and accuses us of a third-degree felony."

e-mail: romboy@desnews.com
 
DeseretNews.com
Originally published Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010
 
Back