At least 100 prospective jurors for the trial of embattled polygamist Tom Green will be summoned to court today to answer a slew of questions about religion, their ancestors' polygamous heritage and their personal feelings about plural marriage.
A copy of the juror questionnaire, obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune, shows that both sides in the legal battle are interested in the religious background of prospective jurors and their ancestors.
Green is scheduled to stand trial May 14 on one count of criminal nonsupport and four counts of felony bigamy -- the technical violation for polygamy. The outspoken Juab County man maintains he cannot get a fair trial in Provo, a city where an estimated 90 percent of the population are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
LDS Church leaders advocated plural marriage for decades until 1890, when former church President Wilford Woodruff issued a "manifesto" announcing an official end to new plural marriages. Although Mormon doctrine still teaches that polygamy is part of the afterlife, members are excommunicated for the practice.
"I am afraid of the Mormons who want to prosecute me just to score points to get into heaven," Green said. "My biggest fear is a career-climbing Mormon who feels it is his duty to show church authorities that he is going to hang me."
But he remains hopeful, saying, "I get lots of support from run-of-the-mill Mormons."
Citing security concerns and over the objections of Green and his lawyer, John Bucher, 4th District Judge Guy Burningham moved the trial from Nephi to Provo last month. Green says he believes the only place in Utah where he can get a fair trial is Park City, because he believes fewer devout Mormons live in Summit County.
Defendants in high-profile criminal cases often express fear that they will be unable to get an impartial jury. But judges usually compensate by anticipating problems and increasing the size of a jury pool -- which typically includes about 30 people.
Today, more than three times that number of prospective jurors will fill out the nine-page questionnaire on their knowledge of the case and Green himself. Of particular interest to the judge and counsel on both sides will be juror responses to questions concerning the influence of media reports about Green.
The questionnaire also asks jurors: "At any time, have you or has any parent, child, spouse, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin, grandparent or grandchild practiced or been involved in polygamy or plural marriage or bigamy?"
Another question: "At any time, did any of your ancestors practice polygamy or plural marriage or bigamy?"
And: "Do you know personally anyone who has ever practiced or been involved in polygamy or plural marriage or bigamy?"
J. Dennis Willigan, a University of Utah sociology professor and nationally recognized expert on jury composition, said Green is more likely to be acquitted in Provo than, say, Denver.
"In Denver, a vast majority of jurors would likely be non-Mormons, and they would see evidence of child rape, bigamy and welfare fraud and vote to convict," he said. "They wouldn't be likely to say, 'Well, polygamy is just part of our history.' "
Willigan said LDS jurors would either see polygamy as wrong because their faith has discontinued the practice or accept it as a colorful part of Utah history. He says that makes it difficult to say exactly how the case will play to a Utah County jury.
"The prosecution could talk about recent statements by church leaders condemning polygamy," Willigan said. "The defense can say this is a unique part of our religious heritage and talk about the church leaders who were polygamists."
Six years after Woodruff's manifesto, Utah's Constitution expressly outlawed polygamy -- a condition of joining the United States, which was openly hostile toward the practice.
"For the first 60 years of this state's history, polygamy was an accepted part of state culture. If it is so detrimental to society, as [Juab County District Attorney David] Leavitt says, how come Utah didn't fold up and wither away?" Green said.
Many Utah residents -- mostly members of the LDS Church -- have polygamous marriages in their ancestry, and modern practitioners are often regarded as an archaic embarrassment. Leavitt and his older brother, Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, also have polygamists in their ancestry.
Polygamous groups in Utah went largely unnoticed until 1998, when The Salt Lake Tribune reported polygamist groups had some of the country's highest rates of Medicaid, welfare and federal benefits for children. Media coverage of polygamy escalated when a 16-year-old Sandy girl fled her family after she was beaten for trying to escape a polygamous marriage to her uncle.
There are an estimated 30,000 practicing polygamists in Utah.
Willigan said prospective jurors might not be truthful on the questionnaire because they are leery of the word bigamy. "They are probably not going to admit they have relatives who are engaging in illegal behavior," he said. "They will wonder if their loved ones will be next [to be prosecuted]."
Jurors will be asked to file their questionnaires with Burningham, who will forward the responses to lawyers on both sides. At the start of the trial in two weeks, jury selection will begin.
Besides the bigamy and criminal nonsupport counts, Green, 52, faces a first-degree felony charge of rape of a child. Green is charged with having sex in 1986 with a then-13-year-old girl, who later became his first plural wife. It is illegal in Utah for anyone to have sex with someone under the age of 14.
Burningham has ruled that if Green can show the alleged crime was reported to police before 1996, the charge would be dropped. That would mean the 10-year legal deadline, or statute of limitations, then in effect, had expired. No trial date has been set in that case.