Utah commission wants polygamist off bench

ST. GEORGE (AP) — The Utah Judicial Conduct Commission has recommended that a judge be removed from the bench because he is a polygamist.

Judge Walter Steed, who serves in the polygamous border town of Hildale, is legally married to one woman but considers himself spiritually married to two others and has 32 children. He is a member of the reclusive Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which dominates Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz.

The Utah Supreme Court now gets the case.

One issue is Steed's contention that the law allowing prosecutors to pursue people who consider themselves plurally married but aren't legally married is unconstitutional.

Utah's attorney general and the Washington County attorney previously declined to file criminal charges against Steed.