 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
State v. Green9/3/2004
On Certification from the Utah Court of Appeals
A jury convicted Thomas Green of criminal nonsupport and four counts of bigamy. Green appeals his bigamy convictions. He asserts that they violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. He also argues that Utah's bigamy statute, Utah Code Ann. § 76-7-101 (1999), is unconstitutionally vague and that the district court erred in applying Utah's unsolemnized marriage statute, Utah Code Ann. § 30-1-4.5 (1999). We affirm.
BACKGROUND
An avowed polygamist, Green has participated in simultaneous conjugal-type relationships with multiple women. These women all use Green's surname and have borne children who also use the Green surname. Between 1970 and 1996, Green formed relationships with Lynda Penman, Beth Cook, Linda Kunz, Shirley Beagley, June Johnson, LeeAnn Beagley, Cari Bjorkman, Hannah Bjorkman, and Julie Dawn McKinley. Through his relationships with these women, Green has fathered approximately twenty-five children.
Some of the women entered into licensed marriages with Green. The remaining women participated in unlicensed ceremonies, after which they considered themselves married to Green. Green avoided being in more than one licensed marriage at a time by terminating each licensed marriage by divorce prior to obtaining a license for a new marriage. Green then continued his relationships with each of the women he divorced as if no divorce had occurred.
In 1995, Green and his family moved to Juab County, Utah, where they resided together in a collection of shared mobile homes that the family called "Green Haven." Green quartered in one mobile home, while the women and children quartered in others. Some of the mobile home areas were set aside as common dining and laundry areas, and the family shared the bathrooms scattered among the mobile homes. The women spent nights individually with Green in his mobile home on a rotating schedule.
Each of the women shared with Green the duties of raising the children and managing the family by dividing the tasks of cooking for the entire family, doing the family laundry, and home schooling all of the children. In addition, the women assisted with the family business, which consisted of selling magazine subscriptions. All money earned by the family business was pooled into "the Green Family Household account."
Between 1988 and 2001, Green appeared on various television shows with the women, consistently referring to the women as his wives, and the women likewise acknowledged spousal relationships. In these television appearances, Green acknowledged that his conduct was potentially punishable under Utah criminal statutes.
In April 2000, the State filed an information charging Green with, among other things, four counts of bigamy. Prior to a preliminary hearing on the charges, the State filed a motion asking that the court recognize the existence of a valid marriage between Green and Linda Kunz. The State based its motion on section 30-1-4.5 of the Utah Code, which codifies common law marriage principles, Whyte v. Blair, 885 P.2d 791, 793-94 (Utah 1994), and allows for the finding of a valid marriage in the absence of solemnization. In response to the motion, the district court held an evidentiary hearing in which Linda Kunz was allowed to intervene.
On July 10, 2000, the district court issued a memorandum decision declaring that Green and Linda Kunz were legally married pursuant to section 30-1-4.5. Specifically, the district court found that as of November 2, 1995 (the date on which Green divorced Hannah Bjorkman), both Green and Linda Kunz were single, w
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Utah Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|