Governor signs hardened polygamy law

Governor signs hardened polygamy law

(Nicole Boliaux, Deseret News, File)


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SALT LAKE CITY — Polygamists face harsher punishments if they are convicted of other crimes such as domestic abuse or fraud under a new law signed late Tuesday night by Gov. Gary Herbert.

HB99 passed by one vote in the final minutes of the 2017 Utah Legislature following several dramatic hearings on the topic and a protest rally where the family from the reality TV show "Sister Wives" and several hundred others spoke out against attempts that infringe on their rights to live plural marriages.

Joe Darger, a Utah man who has three wives and helped organize the rally, said he and others are considering a legal challenge to a law that he says that only creates more fear among polygamists already wary of government officials.

"This is clearly unconstitutional. This clearly targets one group of people," Darger said. "It's absurd that in this day and age that our speech, freedom of religion and ability to do what we want in our bedroom is being policed by the state of Utah."

Parker Douglas of the Utah Attorney General's Office said Wednesday the law doesn't change the office's long-standing policy to not prosecute otherwise law-abiding polygamists.

Douglas said his office worked with legislators on revisions to the language that describes what a bigamy offense is to protect the state against future constitutional challenges after Kody Brown and his wives from the "Sister Wives" show sued over the constitutionality of Utah's unique polygamy law.

The Browns won in federal court, but the case was thrown out by appeals court judges who found the Browns couldn't sue because they were never prosecuted. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take the Browns' case.

Douglas said his office didn't ask for the increased penalties, but he understands the thinking. It merely recognizes the historical evidence of such crimes being committed in some polygamous groups, such as Warren Jeffs' sect on the Utah-Arizona border, he said.

Jeffs is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting girls he considered brides. Eleven members of the group were charged last year with food stamp fraud and money laundering. Nine of them have taken plea deals, and one had his case dismissed.

"If there is somebody under the guise of a polygamous marriage or a sham polygamous community who are engaged in sex trafficking and human trafficking … we think that's probably a higher-grade felony," Douglas said.

The law increased the maximum penalty from five to 15 years for polygamists who are also convicted of fraud, sex abuse, domestic abuse, human trafficking or human smuggling.

The law includes safe harbors for people leaving a polygamous marriage, reporting abuse or protecting a child.

Utah's current polygamy law is already stricter than laws in other states because it bars married people from living with a second purported "spiritual spouse" even if the man is legally married to just one woman.

The new law changes the language to say that someone is breaking the law if they "purport" to be married to a second spouse and are living with that person. Before, prosecutors needed only to prove one or the other.

Darger said he received numerous phone calls Wednesday from polygamists with questions.

"Are we purporting if we're on Facebook sharing our family photos?" he asked "This put a lot of questions in how we actually live our lives and claim who we are."

There are an estimated 30,000 polygamists in Utah. They believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven — a legacy of the early Mormon church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints abandoned the practice in 1890 and now strictly forbids it.

The LDS Church didn't lobby for the bill but supported the premise.

"When it comes to laws governing polygamy, the church's primary interest is in looking after potential victims of such associations," church spokesman Eric Hawkins said in a statement. "The church is concerned that reducing the perceived seriousness of this criminal activity sends the message that such abuses are not serious criminal offenses."

During one of the debates about HB99, Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, the bill's sponsor, and a Mormon, revealed that his great-grandfather was jailed for being a polygamist and said he's irritated that today's polygamists refer to themselves as Mormons.

"They've hijacked my religion, and I actually resent that," Noel said in February.

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BRADY McCOMBS - Associated Press

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