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(Salt Lake City-AP) -- A man seeking to become a Utah judge faced some questions about his handling of polygamy cases in southern Utah.
A Utah Senate committee recommended yesterday that Washington County Attorney Eric Ludlow should be confirmed as a district court judge.
But Ludlow had some explaining to do first.
Troy Bowles was raised in a polygamist family but now works for a group trying to save girls from being forced into polygamist marriages.
He wanted Ludlow to explain why he hadn't brought any charges against polygamist men in the remote enclave of Hildale while he was the county's prosecutor.
Ludlow said the county attorney's office doesn't have an investigator of its own. The only cases he can pursue are the ones discovered by the sheriff's office. And sheriff's detectives hadn't put any polygamy cases on his desk. He also said it's often difficult to get witnesses and victims from polygamist families to testify in court.
His confirmation is now pending before the full Senate.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
