Federal appeals court to hear 'Sister Wives' polygamy case

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Lawyers for a family made famous by the TV show "Sister Wives" are set to ask a federal appeals court on Thursday to uphold a ruling that decriminalized polygamy in Utah.

The case is scheduled to come before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver after the Utah attorney general appealed a ruling that struck down key parts of the state law banning polygamy.

State attorneys say they don't plan to charge Kody Brown and his four wives if the law stands but that it should stay on the books because it helps curb abuses such as underage marriage.

The Brown family says their TLC reality show "Sister Wives" reveals that polygamous unions can be as healthy as monogamous ones. They argue that making marriages like theirs a crime violates the right to privacy and freedom of religion.

The family won a legal victory in 2013, when U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups found that a key part of Utah's bigamy law forbidding cohabitation violated the Browns' right to religious freedom and struck it down. Bigamy, or holding multiple marriage licenses, is still illegal.

It was a landmark decision that removed the threat of arrest for plural families, but Utah said it could weaken its ability to go after polygamists such as imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs, who was convicted of assaulting underage girls he considered wives.

Prosecutors pointed to Jeffs as evidence that the practice can be associated with crimes such as sexual assault, statutory rape and exploitation of government benefits. Utah has a longstanding policy against prosecuting otherwise law-abiding adults in polygamous marriages, but prosecutors say outlawing the practice helps investigators gather evidence and strengthens cases against other abusers.

The Browns counter that other laws against those crimes are on the books and banning the practice can sow distrust of authority.

Their attorney, Jonathan Turley, also has pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, saying it shows laws restricting consensual adult relationships are outdated even if certain unions are unpopular.

There are about 30,000 polygamists in Utah, according to court documents. They believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven — a legacy of the early Mormon church. The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints abandoned the practice in 1890 and strictly prohibits it today.

By Lindsay Whitehurst, AP. Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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