Mormon Ordered to Stand Trial on Bigamy Charges

A man who has repeatedly gone on television with his five spiritual wives was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on bigamy charges, a rare prosecution that brings attention to an old Mormon practice long since abandoned by the church.

For years, prosecutors have said that pursuing the long-standing but illegal practice of plural marriage is nearly impossible because practitioners often marry in secret ceremonies without getting licenses.

But they say Tom Green made his case impossible to ignore by taking his wives and 25 children in front of the cameras on such programs as “48 Hours,” “Dateline” and even “Jerry Springer.”

“It was a critical ruling for us,” Juab County prosecutor David O. Leavitt said after the judge’s order. “He’s confessed his crime to 500 million people.”

Green admitted on those programs to marrying each wife and then divorcing her before taking another as a means to stay ahead of the law.

In a written ruling Tuesday, U.S. 4th District Judge Donald Eyre called this maneuvering a “systematic scheme” and said Green likely committed bigamy.

Bigamy is defined in Utah as living with one spouse while cohabiting with at least one other person.

Eyre said Green lived with his first wife, Linda Kunz, sisters Shirley and LeeAnn Beagley, and sisters Cari and Hannah Bjorkman.

Green was bound over for trial on four counts of bigamy and is also charged with owing the state back child support.

In a separate case, he is charged with one count of child rape stemming from his relationship with Kunz when she was 13.

Tuesday, Green pleaded not guilty to the rape charge and was ordered to return Aug. 8 for a preliminary hearing.

At that time, he is also set to be arraigned for the bigamy and child support charges.

Green said he would plead not guilty to the bigamy charges.

“I believe the only thing I’m really guilty of is building a family according to my religious beliefs,” Green said outside the courtroom. “If I’m going to prison for anything, it should be what I’m guilty of, and that’s practicing my religion.”

Green says he follows the original dictates of the old Mormon church, which declared polygamy a principal route to exaltation in the afterlife. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints abandoned plural marriage and Utah made it illegal, as a condition for statehood, more than a century ago.