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SALT LAKE CITY (AP)/KSL NewsRadio -- The Utah Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the state law banning polygamy is not unconstitutional in upholding the 2003 bigamy conviction of a former Hildale police officer.
In its ruling, the court said the behavior of Rodney Holm was "within the realms of behavior criminalized by our state's bigamy statute" and that religious protections of both the U.S. and Utah constitutions "do not shield Holm's polygamous practices from state prosecution."
Rodney Holm was convicted of felony bigamy and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor stemming from a 1988 "spiritual marriage" to Ruth Stubbs, who was then 16 and with whom he had two children. At the time, Holm, then 32, was already legally married to Stubbs' sister and claimed another "spiritual wife."
Assistant Attorney General Laura Dupaix says only the Chief Justice disagreed with the opinion. Dupaix says this is a very important case for the state for future prosecutions.
"It really addresses the legal defenses we've seen to this point. It makes it very clear that polygamists that marry underage girls aren't going to be able to hide behind religion any more."
He was sentenced to a year in jail and is now on court-supervised probation.
Holm and his wives were members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamist sect based in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. Holm is one of several men in the community to be prosecuted in recent years, as authorities in Utah and Arizona have taken a renewed interest in polygamy and crimes and against women and children in the FLDS church and other fundamentalist sects.
Fundamentalists believe plural marriage guarantees their salvation in heaven.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
