XPost: alt.law-enforcement, alt.atheism, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: alt.survival   
   From: fmhlaw@comcast.net   
      
   Scout wrote:   
   > Just Wondering wrote:   
   >> Scout wrote:   
   >>> Just Wondering wrote:   
      
   >>>> Under Utah law, Kodi has only one wife, Mari has only one husband, and   
   >>>> the other three ladies have no marital partner at all.   
   >>>   
   >>> Then why were they being investigated then?   
   >>>   
   >> Because Utah's bigamy statute, Utah Code Ann. 76-7-101 states:   
   >>   
   >> (1) A person is guilty of bigamy when, knowing he has a husband or   
   >> wife or knowing the other person has a husband or wife, the person   
   >> purports to marry another person or cohabits with another person.   
   >> (2) Bigamy is a felony of the third degree.   
   >>   
   >> Kodi Brown had a wife, Mari, and also cohabited with three other   
   >> women. Under Utah law, he was committing three felonies.   
   >   
   > And yet it were the Browns that were under investigation. So why were   
   > they investigating all 5 if the issue was only with him?   
   >   
   Because Utah case law construes "cohabits" to mean "lives together as   
   husband and wife." if the state wanted to charge Kodi with "unlawful   
   cohabitation" bigamy, it would have to prove that Kodi lived together as   
   man and wife with one or more of the other women.  Which means that to   
   bring the charge against Kodi, the state would have to prove the other   
   women's living arrangements with Kodi.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)