SALT LAKE CITY | Lawyers for a family made famous by the TV show “Sister Wives” asked a federal appeals court on Thursday to uphold a ruling that decriminalized polygamy in Utah.
Federal appeals judges have asked whether Utah needs a polygamy ban if the law challenged by the family on the TV show “Sister Wives” is used so rarely to prosecute abuses associated with multiple marriages.
A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also questioned the lawyer for Kody Brown and his four wives on Thursday. The judges asked whether the family had reason to fear prosecution or suffered other harm because of the law.
The Browns want the 10th Circuit to uphold a ruling that decriminalized polygamy in Utah. The state is appealing after key parts of its bigamy law forbidding cohabitation were struck down. Bigamy, or holding multiple marriage licenses, is still illegal.
State attorneys say the law helps curb abuses such as underage marriage.
State attorneys say they don’t plan to charge plaintiff Kody Brown and his four wives if the law stands, but it should stay on the books because it helps curb abuses like underage marriage.
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 Brown’s right to religious freedom and struck it down. Bigamy, or holding multiple marriage licenses, is still illegal.
The decision was hailed as a landmark case that removed the threat of arrest for plural families, but Utah said that it could weaken their ability to go after polygamists like jailed leader Warren Jeffs.
Prosecutors pointed to Jeffs, who is in prison after being convicted of assaulting underage girls he considered wives, as evidence that the practice can be associated with crimes such as sexual assault, statutory rape and exploitation of government benefits. Even though Utah has a longstanding policy against prosecuting otherwise law-abiding adults in polygamous marriages, prosecutors say outlawing the practice helps investigators gather evidence and strengthens cases against other abusers.
The Browns counter that there are other laws on the books against those crimes, and banning the practice can sow distrust of authority.
Their attorney Jonathan Turley has also pointed to the landmark 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Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, saying it shows laws restricting consensual adult relationships are outdated even if certain unions are unpopular.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 Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints abandoned the practice in 1890 and strictly prohibits it today.