4th District Judge Donald Eyre reached a guilty
verdict in less than an hour in the first-degree felony
child rape trial involving Tom Green and his 13-year-old
bride in 1986. Green now faces up to life in prison.
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 16.
Judge Eyre reached a decision based on basic math.
The first piece of prosecution evidence against Green was
the birth certificate of his "head-wife," Linda Kunz, who
was 13 when she and Green conceived their first child,
Melvin. The birth certificate of the boy, now 14, was the
second and final piece of evidence against Green.
Kunz said she wished she and Green had waited until
she was 14, which at the time was the legal age for
marriage in Utah.
"If we had waited six months, it would have been
legal. For six months to decide my fate and my family's
fate, it's just not fair," Kunz said.
The first-degree felony conviction carries a
sentence of 5-years-to-life. Juab County Attorney David
Leavitt did not say what punishment he will seek.
Green, who has five wives and nearly three dozen
children, already is serving a 5-year sentence in Utah
State Prison for bigamy and criminal nonsupport. He was
convicted in May 2001.
Leavitt said Monday's guilty verdict is a victory
for young women exploited by polygamy.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints practiced polygamy until an 1890 manifesto by
former church President Wilford Woodruff ended the
practice, removing a stumbling block to Utah's
statehood.
Today, LDS members are excommunicated for polygamy.
Although there are an estimated 30,000 Utahns living in
polygamy, no prosecutions had been brought since an
infamous raid on the Utah-Arizona border in the
1950s.
Leavitt learned of Green's numerous wives via
Green's many appearances on national television. "At
first, I didn't want to provoke the government and I
didn't care about the publicity," Green said in 2001.
"Now I'm the only polygamist dumb enough to talk to the
media, but if no one else is going to stick their neck
out to defend the lifestyle, I will."
In court Monday, co-prosecutor Monte Stewart called
Green's attempts to "take on the role of a religious
martyr" as "baseless" and "despicable."
After prosecutors rested their case, Bucher moved
to have the charge dismissed. Eyre rejected the request,
and Bucher rested his defense without presenting any
evidence or calling any witnesses.
Bucher acknowledged last week that Green's fate was
sealed when Eyre ruled the state had jurisdiction to
prosecute him. Green had argued that although he had sex
with Kunz when she was a minor, he did so while the two
were on their honeymoon in Mexico.
But Eyre decided Green could be tried in Utah
because Green and Linda's mother, Beth Kunz, had approval
of her daughter's marriage to Green probably occurred in
Utah.
Bucher earlier claimed that Green should not face
trial on the charge because the statute of limitations
expired long ago. But Eyre said evidence showed the
alleged crime was not quickly reported and that
authorities did not know about it until the late
1990s.
