| Jury convicts officer of illegal sex with underage wife | |
| The Associated Press | |
ST. GEORGE, Utah - A police officer accused of bigamy and illegal sex with a girl he took as a third wife when she was just 16 was convicted by a jury Thursday - a case that one official suggested would lead to more. Jurors ruled that Rodney Holm, an officer in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., committed bigamy and also broke Utah law banning sexual relations involving 16- and 17-year-olds when their partner is 10 or more years older, unless the couple is legally married. Holm, 37, who lives in Hildale, was accused of having sex with Ruth Stubbs when she was 16. He was 32 when he allegedly took Stubbs as a "spiritual" wife, which is not a legally recognized union. Holm, who faces up to five years in prison on each count, stared straight ahead as the verdict was announced. He refused to comment outside the courthouse before climbing into his attorney's SUV. Authorities said Holm won't serve any prison time until after his sentencing. A date for that was not set. Ruth Stubbs did not attend the verdict. Her sister, Pennie Petersen, said the ruling should send a message to polygamists in Hildale. "Hopefully, they'll think before they marry one of these babies off," Petersen said. "Justice was served," said Kristine Knowlton, the assistant attorney general who prosecuted the case. "The laws are about protecting kids and that's what the Attorney General's office is going to do. "The door is open. That is no longer a closed society. You're not above the law, Even when you're a police officer, you're not above the law." Ron Barton, the Attorney General's office investigator who probed the Holm case, said his office was looking into other such cases in Hildale and Colorado City and "we are looking at other groups," he said. "We're really doing something to help victims," Barton said. "We're willing to step up to the plate and protect young girls who are being victimized." Defense attorney Rod Parker said the case involves issues of constitutional law and they plan to appeal. "We're obviously disappointed in the verdict today," Parker said. He said the law under which his client was convicted destroys families in Holm's community. Parker said he didn't intend to argue that members of the FLDS church deserve special treatment because they practice polygamy, but that they should be given access to the institution of marriage the same as others. In this case, Parker said, that access should include being allowed to legally take more than one wife. Holm has at least 20 children with his three wives, and is a certified officer in both Hildale and Colorado City, where most of the towns' residents are members of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Holm and his defenders have argued that Utah is selectively prosecuting polygamists for their beliefs. Polygamy was a part of early belief of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but was abandoned more than a century ago as the territory sought statehood. The Utah Constitution bans it and the Mormon church now excommunicates those who advocate it, but it is believed that tens of thousands in Utah continue the practice. Holm's attorneys have also cited the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling which overturned sodomy laws in several states, including Utah. But prosecutors say the Texas case is irrelevant because it dealt with sex between consenting adults, not sex with a minor. Prosecutors also said that even if the bigamy case was dropped based on the Texas precedent, the charges for unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old could go forward. Jurors took less than two hours to reach guilty verdicts against Holm on one count of bigamy and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct. In closing arguments earlier Thursday, Holm's defense attorney, Rod Parker, urged jurors to consider Holm's "cultural heritage" and the jurors' own family histories. "If the federal government hadn't forced it to do so, the LDS church would not have given up this practice," Parker said, noting many in the jury - pulled from Mormon-dominated Washington County - might have family histories that include polygamy. "We don't see our ancestors as being immoral or wrong ... we see those ancestors as being subject to religious persecution," Parker said. "God's law, that's what (Holm) follows. That's his culture." Parker also said the prosecution failed to prove that two of three children Stubbs had with Holm were conceived in Utah, which the state used to help build its unlawful sex claim. Without such proof, the Utah court has no jurisdiction, Parker said. But assistant state attorney general Kristine Knowlton insisted the children were conceived in Utah, and that their Utah birth certificates confirm that. Knowlton also said a marriage certificate for Holm and Stubbs' sister, Suzie, proves that he was legally married and therefore committed bigamy when he married Ruth Stubbs and then lived with her in Hildale. She said Holm was being prosecuted "for the acts he committed, not for his religious beliefs." Holm has been on suspension since his arrest. | |
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The Associated Press Originally published August 14, 2003 | |
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