SHERWOOD HILLS -- Juab County Attorney David Leavitt almost made a big
announcement about how the state will prosecute polygamy in the future.
At Wednesday"s meeting of the Statewide Association of Public Attorneys of
Utah, Leavitt, prosecutor in the bigamy trial of outspoken polygamist Tom
Green, was primed to announce -- something. But a phone call from Attorney
General Mark Shurtleff called it off.
The issue is whether polygamy cases should be dealt with on a state level,
rather than on a county level, Leavitt said.
Paul Murphy, spokesman for the attorney general"s office, said a meeting
with county attorneys has been tentatively planned since July, when the
association asked the state to "take a more active role in the prosecution
of crimes within closed communities."
We weren"t aware that this was going to be on the agenda today or the
attorney general would have been there, Murphy said.
"We all expected him to be here," Leavitt said, explaining the change
of plans. "This was really his announcement to make."
Murphy preferred the term discussion to announcement.
"We did not plan to have a big announcement today," Murphy said.
Discussion or announcement, the issue is the same.
"The role of the attorney general"s office has primarily been to
assist county attorneys, and if the county attorneys need more help, then we
need to discuss how we can do it," Murphy said.
At least one thing is missing, however. The attorney general will have to find
funding. He can"t stop polygamy without funds, Leavitt said.
State prosecution would not mean open season on polygamists, however.
"We"re not going after polygamists because they"re polygamists
The primary focus is going to be on protecting children and women. And
protecting taxpayers," Murphy said.
Leavitt said polygamy in Utah is so widespread that prosecuting everyone
involved is not feasible.
"This county attorney says that if children are being abused, if welfare
funds are being diverted. those are the cases where the resources must be
devoted, where there are innocent children being hurt," Leavitt said.
Currently, prosecution is the responsibility of the county in which accused
polygamists live. This causes a number of resource problems, Leavitt said.
Polygamy cases are expensive, complicated, time-consuming and involve a
"very specialized area of the law."
Of the Green case, Leavitt said, "It was a much larger endeavor than I
ever expected it to be. It"s a very difficult crime to prove, even though
it doesn"t appear so on the surface."
Leavitt said all 29 county attorneys agree that having the attorney general
prosecute these cases would be the best use of resources.
"The legislature would have to fund a prosecution position specifically
for polygamy-type cases."