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Juab County attorney David Leavitt is packing up this week, after he lost last month's election by just 22 votes.
The small town prosecutor became a well-known figure around the country by charging Tom Green and putting polygamy back into the headlines.
David Leavitt believes there were several factors that cost him the election, but admits Tom Green probably has a lot to do with it.
And as he leaves office, he spoke with Eyewitness News on how prosecuting polygamy changed his life.
When David Leavitt took the job as Juab County attorney eight years ago, the thought of prosecuting polygamy never crossed his mind.
"I have to say that I held the same opinion a lot of people in Utah hold, and that is, they are just doing what their religion tells them to do. They are not bothering anyone, so why should we bother them?" Leavitt says.
But three years later, outspoken polygamist Tom Green moved to a remote area of Juab County.
Green began to show up on national and international television shows, discussing his polygamist beliefs and in some cases, daring the government to go after him.
Leavitt says he discovered polygamy to be a front for welfare fraud and sexual abuse, leaving him with a tough decision.
"Am I willing to stand up for what I see as obviously wrong and damage my political life, or am I willing to go along like everyone else has gone along and ignore it?" he says.
Leavitt made national headlines when he decided to prosecute Green for polygamy.
The charges were filed in the middle of his older brother's re-election campaign for governor.
Over the next three years, Leavitt insists the time-consuming case brought him no extra money.
He denies he did it for the publicity and says prosecuting polygamy took a toll on his personal and family life.
"I was accosted by four fundamentalist polygamists at the movie theater, and quite frankly, it caused a lot of disturbance in my life because of what they told me and what they threatened to do to me," Leavitt says.
"We wound up with 24 hour a day police protection in front of our house with bodyguards. There were times we were issued bullet-proof vests."
Beginning next month, Leavitt plans to start writing a book about his perspectives in prosecuting Tom Green.
"No one may have interest in reading it, but I have an interest writing it, if for nothing more as a history of what occurred. But I intend to tell the good, the bad and the ugly," Leavitt says.
And coming from a high profile political family in Utah, Leavitt admits losing last month's election really hurt.
Still he says he'd prosecute polygamy again.
"I've learned more in defeat about what's important in life and about really how good it feels to stand up for what you believe in even if it costs you something dear, and I'm ready to move on," he says.
When David Leavitt leaves office next month, he plans to move to Salt Lake City and open a private law practice.
He says he may look for opportunities to return to public service in the future.
