Legislators out to ban child bigamy
 House gives tentative nod to felony bill
 
By Robbie Sherwood
The Arizona Republic
 
The Legislature is poised to strike a blow against the forced marriages of teenage girls in polygamist enclaves such as Colorado City in northern Arizona.

The House tentatively approved a bill Thursday that makes child bigamy, a religious marriage between a minor and an adult who is already married, a felony. Senate Bill 1335 would also allow authorities to prosecute the religious leader who performs the marriage ceremonies and the parents of the minor.

The bill still faces a formal House vote and a final vote in the Senate before moving to the governor.

"I'm not going to speculate if this will stop the practice, but I think it will have a chilling effect," said Attorney General Terry Goddard, who pushed for the bill. "This gives us a legal tool to bring prosecutions in cases we can't prosecute now. In other words, right now we can only go after the bigamist husband for child abuse, which is extremely difficult to prove."

The bill grew out of reports of teenage girls fleeing their homes and women claiming that their children were being forced into marriages in Colorado City, a remote community near the Arizona-Utah line that is dominated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints. The church's leader, Warren Jeffs, reportedly performs all of the plural-marriage ceremonies in his congregation, which would make him a potential target for prosecution.

The bill would make bigamy a Class 3 felony, punishable by up to 3.5 years in prison. The church pastor and parents could be convicted of a Class 5 felony, which carries a potential sentence of 1.5 years.

Members of a rival polygamist sect in Centennial Park that does not allow marriage to minors had argued that the bill's definition of marriage would allow prosecutions of plural marriages between consenting adults.

Goddard said that won't happen.

"This bill goes after illegal behavior, not somebody's belief or way of life," Goddard said. "I don't think this bill has any impact on those who practice marriage among consenting adults."
 
azcentral.com
Originally published April 16, 2004
 
Back