There's a fine line between a single man committing mass "fornication" and a polygamist, or a married man having affairs on the side or one practicing polygamy.

How can the state decide whether you're just good at affairs or actually practicing polygamy? Is it that you have religious affiliation with a group that believes in it?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2010 08:50AM by Jesus Smith.

In the case of what's-his-name Green, if you go on TV and talk about it you get prosecuted.

wasn't that long ago. Seems it got some attention with Warren Jeffs, but I think once the hoopla is over, the fundy's will return to business as usual.

about living together as man and wife. Some might rely on proving the women are common law wives, but that is harder than you'd think.

I don't know about Utah's.

It never seemed so. They always wait for the feds or another state to pick up their slack.

A married couple divorced. The woman married a polygamist and took her child to live with the new husband. At some point she died but had specifically written in her will that the polygamous husband would have custody of her child. (Wish I knew more details about how she was able to put that in her will.)

The bio father sued to get custody. The judge ruled for the polygamous father to have "permanent" custody but the natural father had "temporary" custody. The judge knew his decision would be appealed and he was pushing the higher court to confront the polygamy issue. However, it allowed the natural father to take the boy away and the permanant custody could only be forced if a higher court tackled the polygamy issue. So the man was able to keep his son with him.

It's been a couple of years since I was told this story by a relative of the judge so I hope I have stated it accurately.

It seems that Utah will only get involved if, like Tom Green, the polygamist goes public and embarasses TSCC. Otherwise they leave it alone and hope it will just go away.

However, Carolyn Jessop in her book "Escape" did mention that the state attorney general at the time (can't think of his name) was helpful to her when she left the fundies which surprised me.

He's impressed some people in the past, but my view is he's morphed into a wuss on the matter these days...

He's a politician, period, and my family's attorney who passed away recently characterized the AG's office as "a dumping ground for bad attorneys."

Utah could do far more to end the problem, but they don't want to confront their own skeletons or draw any more attention to the subject than already occurs regularly...

“A person is guilty of bigamy when, knowing he has a husband
or wife, the person purports to marry another person or cohabits with another person.” Utah Code
Ann. § 76-7-101(1) (2003).

It's not just adultery. It's knowing that you are already married to one person, and then living with another person in a sexual relationship. The legal status of the marriage to the second person is irrelevant. In fact, because a bigamous marriage is void ab initio, it's not legally POSSIBLE to be married to two people at the same time. Hence the focus in the statute on, not being MARRIED to a second person, but simply COHABITING with them.