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| U.S. SUPREME COURT REJECTS UTAH POLYGAMY CASE | ||
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The United States Supreme has refused to hear the appeal of a Hildale police officer who was convicted of taking an underage girl as his polygamous wife. Today the justices declined, without comment, to review the appeal of Rodney Holm for his 2003 conviction of bigamy and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
"Mr. Holm was charged and convicted for unlawfully having sex with an underage girl and with bigamy. We believe it is very clear that no one has the constitutional right to this type of behavior," says Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. In her brief to the Supreme Court, Assistant Attorney General Laura Dupaix argued that the justices should not hear the case because of the facts. "This case does not involve consenting adults. It involves an arranged marriage between a 32-year-old adult and his 16-year-old sister-in-law, who conceived two of his children before her eighteenth birthday." Dupaix also argued that the state’s bigamy law is neutral to religion and pointed out that one of the two recent bigamy convictions involved a secular bigamist. "Religious polygamists are not being targeted for prosecution," says Dupaix. "If anything, predators are being targeted for prosecution, especially those who marry young girls and those who practice bigamy for the purpose of committing fraud." Last year the Utah Supreme Court rejected Holm’s appeal and ruled that his prosecution did not violate his constitutional rights. _______________ 1 Holm v. State of Utah, Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court - Brief in Opposition 2 State of Utah v. Holm, Case No. 20030847 | ||
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attorneygeneral.utah.gov Originally published February 26, 2007 | ||
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