Wavering on polygamy law
 
IN OUR VIEW
Provo Daily Herald
 
When Tom Green was tried and convicted on bigamy charges, it marked the first successful prosecution of a polygamist in Utah in a half-century.

Green's case was seen as a novel attempt to prosecute a crime that has been illegal -- technically -- since Utah obtained statehood in 1896 but which has gone largely unenforced. Instead of using the anti-polygamy statutes that had proven unworkable in the past, Juab County Attorney David Leavitt, with help from BYU law professor Monte N. Stewart and the attorney general's office, used the common-law marriage statute to prosecute Green for bigamy.

Anti-polygamy advocates saw his trial as opening the door for more prosecutions, while Green maintained that it was strictly a show trial to demonstrate that Utah doesn't tolerate polygamists on the eve of the 2002 Winter Olympics.

"I think the reason I'm being prosecuted is because I talk to the media," Green said in a 2001 interview.

It appears Green may be right.

His conviction didn't throw open a floodgate of polygamy prosecutions. A drip may be more like it. Rodney Holm, a police officer in the polygamist towns of Hilldale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., was convicted of bigamy and recently completed his sentence on that crime.

But Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is apparently not unleashing the prosecutorial dogs on some of Holm's fellow polygamists on the police force. Instead, he is asking that the state revoke the officers' Peace Officer Standards and Training certification for being polygamists. Shurtleff says the officers turned a blind eye to crimes committed by fellow officers and that they lied about their training hours. The charges came after an investigation by Shurtleff's polygamy investigator.

Seven of the 13 officers named in the report are practicing polygamists, yet Shurtleff said his office won't prosecute them on that charge, claiming a lack of resources.

That didn't stop Shurtleff from assigning two investigators to assist then-Juab County Attorney David Leavitt to build a case against Green.

While Green was a high-profile polygamist, thanks to newspaper interviews and television appearances around the world, the Hilldale officers may be more deserving of prosecution because they've sworn an oath to uphold Utah law, including the constitutional prohibition on polygamy. If an officer breaks his public trust, he should expect to be prosecuted, no questions asked.

An alleged "lack of resources" hasn't stopped law enforcement from prosecuting online sexual predators, identity thieves or University of Utah baseball players who paint their university's logo on BYU's block Y. It shouldn't stop prosecution in this case. If the state had the resources to conduct an eight-month investigation of the Hilldale/Colorado City police force, it has the resources to prosecute any crimes that investigation uncovered.

By not prosecuting the officers, the state lends significant weight to Green's analysis that his trial was merely Olympic window dressing. Failing to prosecute obvious cases after putting Green through Utah's trial of the century is a failure to provide equal protection under the law.

If the state will not prosecute polygamists whenever they are brought to the attention of duly constituted authorities, it may be time for the Legislature to reconsider the polygamy statute in the first place. What is the point of having a law on the books if it is not enforced or, worse, enforced sporadically for sake of appearances?

Utah needs to make up its mind, one way or the other, about polygamy. Justice can't sit on the fence; it must come down on one side or the other.
 
harktheherald.com
Originally published June 13, 2004
 
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