Utah Supreme Court to hear Holm's appeal
 
By Rachel Olsen
The Spectrum
 
ST. GEORGE -- A year and a half after conviction, with his sentence served, Rodney Holm, a former Hildale police officer convicted of bigamy and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor 16 or 17 years old will have his case heard before the Utah Supreme Court on Thursday.

Holm's case -- involving the 1998 marriage of Holm to his third wife, his then-16-year-old sister-in-law -- was heard in August 2003 in the 5th District Court in St. George. A jury convicted him, a judge sentenced him in October 2003 and Holm completed his time in June, receiving credit for good time.

Holm, 38, is from the Hildale-Colorado City area, a polygamous community, and is a follower of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints faith, which teaches polygamy in its doctrine.

Holm's attorney, Rod Parker, said he hopes the appeal will raise the important issues to help officials see polygamy as Parker does -- a constitutionally protected relationship.

He is not asking the court to recognize the institution as a legal marriage, only that from the privacy standpoint it would be a secured relationship, Parker said.

"There's a lot of people in Utah practicing polygamy and they need to come to terms with that," he said in June.

Considering the other charge, Parker said the law already viewed the alleged victim as an adult because her parents consented to the "marriage." In a monogamous relationship, Utah law allows for individuals under the age of 18, but older than 15, to marry with the permission of a parent or guardian.

Assistant Attorney General Laura Dupaix said in June that she is not worried about the potential issues raised in the Holm appeal. Although the case will raise interesting constitutional issues, Dupaix said none of them warrant a reversal in the conviction.

The Utah Attorney General's Office argues the bigamy law is constitutional because it does not target only bigamy practiced for religious reasons and does not prevent free association, according to a news release from the office.

Elaine Tyler, a volunteer with Hope for the Child Brides, an organization formed to assist girls and women trying to leave the polygamist lifestyle, said she believed it would be a miscarriage of justice if the original judgment in the Holm case was overturned.

"I think he (Holm) got a light slap on the hand in the first place," she said.

Parker filed in October 2003 for a motion to stay the jail sentence until the appeals process was complete, however he was denied.

The completion of a sentence never makes an appeal a moot point, Dupaix, who is with the appeals division and handling the appeal for the Utah Attorney General's office, said in June.

Parker said with the current judgment, Holm is on three years of probation, has to be registered as a sex offender and has a felony charge on his record -- as well as being decertified as a police officer by Utah's Peace Officer Standards and Training Council.
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published February 1, 2005
 
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