Top-court ruling turns up heat on polygamists

With Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, criminal investigations under way by authorities in Utah and Arizona, a national media feeding frenzy over all things polygamy and a TV show such as HBO's "Big Love," plural marriage is sitting under a very hot spotlight.

A recent Utah Supreme Court ruling that clears the way for prosecutors to go after polygamists under the state's bigamy statute has only served to turn up the heat.

"I have started to be a little concerned about that," said one polygamist man, who asked the Deseret Morning News not to identify him out of fear of criminal prosecution. He lives in the Salt Lake Valley with his five wives.

The Utah Supreme Court ruling couldn't come at a worse time for those who practice plural marriage. The state's high court already booted from the bench Hildale municipal court judge Walter Steed for having multiple wives. Before that, the Utah Supreme Court had upheld polygamist Tom Green's conviction of bigamy, criminal non-support and child rape, for taking a 13-year-old girl as one of his wives.

As a Hildale police officer, Rodney Holm had taken an oath to uphold the laws and the Utah Constitution, which unlike other state constitutions, contains a specific ban on polygamy. So when Holm was charged with bigamy and unlawful sex with a 16-year-old, it sent shockwaves.

Holm was convicted by a jury and sentenced to jail time and a $3,000 fine. He fought back, appealing his conviction, claiming Utah's use of the bigamy statute violated his constitutional rights. Specifically, Holm argued that he never purported to be legally married to Ruth Stubbs. He was however, legally married to her sister, Suzie. Prosecutors also took issue with Ruth's age — 16.

The case hinged on the definition of "marry" in the statute. A person is found guilty of bigamy if they "purport to marry" or cohabit with an individual while married to another person. However, the Legislature has recently defined marriage under Amendment 3 to state: "Marriage consists only of the legal union between a man and a woman."

The Utah Attorney General's Office argued that for the purpose of prosecution, marriage under the bigamy statute could include other unions not state-sanctioned.

Holm countered that under the U.S. Supreme Court decision Lawrence vs. Texas — which declared state sodomy laws unconstitutional — the nation's highest court recognized the ability of adults to enter into relationships of their choosing without fear of government interference.