By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
The child rape sentencing of convicted bigamist Tom
Green was postponed while Green's attorney, John Bucher,
contests a court-ordered report by the Utah Division of
Adult Parole and Probation.
Fourth District Judge Donald Eyre on Tuesday postponed
the sentencing so Bucher can challenge the report.
At the sentencing, Green was to receive an additional
sentence for marrying and conceiving a child with Linda Kunz
in 1986 when she was just 13 and he was 37.
The sentencing was postponed from Friday, Aug. 16 to
Tuesday, Aug. 27.
"The report recommends 10 years to life," said Bucher.
He said the report also painted Green as a sexual
predator.
Bucher said he was trying to get Green's child-rape
conviction reduced to a charge of unlawful sexual relations,
a change that could allow Green to be released from prison
in just a few months.
The change would reduce one count of child rape from a
first-degree felony to a second-degree felony.
Green, who has five wives and 31 children, is
finishing his first year of a five-year prison term for
bigamy and failure to pay child support. That conviction
came as the result of a jury trial.
Bucher said because the crime was committed 16 years
ago, Green's sentencing should be applied to the state's
criminal code as it was in 1986 and the 1986 law allowed a
judge to reduce a felony by one degree if the judge found
special circumstances.
However, Juab County Attorney David Leavitt said that
according to Utah's laws as they were in 1986, a judge could
not reduce sentencing for sex crimes involving children,
including rape of a child.
"I oppose any leniency for Green on the child rape
charge," said Leavitt. He plans to make a recommendation at
sentencing.
"We certainly will have a recommendation," he
said.
Bucher stated that last month Leavitt had offered to
recommend a sentence of five years to life if Green
submitted to a sexual predator test but Green refused.
Green waived his right to a jury trial on the child
rape charge and was convicted June 24 when Eyre cited birth
certificates in his decision.
"This case comes down to math," said Eyre at the
time.
It was Eyre's conclusion that Green was guilty of
fathering a child with Linda Kunz-Green when she was 13. He
stated that birth certificates proved Green impregnated
Linda Kunz while she was still a child under the strictures
of Utah law.
The trial of Green, Leavitt said, was all about
protecting young girls in polygamy.
Bucher points out In his motion, that Green's marriage
to a 13-year-old was done with the consent of Kunz-Green's
mother, who was also married to Green at one point, and with
the consent of Linda Kunz-Green.
"It was not done as a result of carnal passion but as
a part of a religious and fundamentalist belief," Bucher
wrote.
As a result of his earlier conviction for non-support,
Green has been ordered to pay the state $78,000 in
restitution for back child support.
Leavitt said prosecuting Green on bigamy, criminal
nonsupport and child rape cost the state an estimated
$50,000 over the past three years.
Of that total, Juab County paid just $2,500.
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