May 19, 2001--
PROVO, Utah (AP) _ Avowed polygamist Tom Green was found guilty of bigamy Friday in the country's first major polygamy case in nearly five decades.
Green, 52, was convicted on four counts of bigamy and once count of criminal failure to pay child support. He faces up to 25 years in prison and $25,000 in fines.
Sentencing was set for June 27.
A jury of five women and three men deliberated for about three hours before deciding on what has been considered a test case for polygamy. Both sides have said the case could open the door to future prosecutions.
Although Utah banned plural marriage in its Constitution in order to become a state, it has no specific anti-polyamy law on the books.
So prosecutors combined the state's bigamy law and its definition of common-law marriage in prosecuting Green, who lives with his five wives and 25 children on a barren patch of the Utah desert.
First, the state showed that Green was legally married to his first wife, Linda, under common law. Then prosecutors convinced the jury that Green continued to live with his four other wives.
They also said that Green, who argued he was just following his religious dictates, was still a criminal.
"The state of Utah makes ... taking more than one wife, cohabiting with more than one person a crime because it hurts people," Leavitt said in his closing arguments.
The people hurt were Green's young wives, who were married as young as 14, and his dozens of children, who were dependent on welfare.
As spectators in the courtroom strained to hear the jury's verdict, some of Green's family members could be heard crying.
"There was a lot of sensational evidence and a lot of pressure on the jury," said John Bucher, Green's attorney.
Bucher vowed to appeal.
The ruling will likely have the effect of driving other polygamists _ estimated at 30,000 throughout the West _ further underground, Bucher said.
"It's going to put a squelch on First Amendment rights and the practice of these people's religion," Bucher said.
(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APTV 05-19-01 0012MDT
