Tom Green (polygamist)

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Mormonism and polygamy
Portrait of five caucasian Latter-day Saints, married to each other in nineteenth-century Latter-day Saint polygamy, against the backdrop of what may be a hedge. All seem to be posing; none face the camera. Leftmost is a woman, seated, her hair done in a high, braided bun, wearing a dress with buttons down the middle; in her hands are an open book. Center-left, standing furthest to the back (though still very much with the portraited group) is a woman, her hair done up but resting low, in a polka-dotted top and a scarf or ascot around her neck and a skirt. She carries a hat, held to her waist. Center is a woman, sort of kneeling or seated (perhaps there is an unseen stool she's sitting on?). She wears a white dress, her hair is done up in a high and large bun and she wears a headband. In her right arm she holds a hat, over her knees; her left arm rests on the lap of the man sitting center right. She may be leaning against his legs. Center-right is a man, wearing a suit jacket of some kind and a high-collared shirt. He is balded and bearded. His left hand is placed over the left arm of the center woman. Rightmost is a woman, her hair done up but resting low, sitting in a visibly wooden (likely handcrafted) chair. She wears a dress with buttons going down the middle. She holds a hat, which looks very like center's hat, over her knees.
A Mormon "Saint" and Wives by Charles Weitfle (ca.1878–1885)
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Thomas Arthur "Tom" Green (born 1948)[1] is a Mormon fundamentalist in Utah who is a practitioner of plural marriage. After a high-profile trial, Green was convicted by the state of Utah on May 18, 2001 of four counts of bigamy and one count of failure to pay child support. This decision was upheld by the Utah State Supreme Court in 2004.[2]


Religion

Green was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He served as a Mormon missionary in the church's Great Lakes Mission (Indiana and Michigan) from June 1967 to June 1969. In the 1980s, while in his thirties, Green left the LDS Church and converted to a type of Mormon fundamentalism which teaches that its adherents should practice plural marriage. The LDS church stopped allowing polygamy in the 1890s. He was to eventually take seven wives.[1] He was also a one-time Apostle for the Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a fundamentalist group that split from the Apostolic United Brethren, another fundamentalist group.[citation needed]

Trial and conviction

The prosecution, led by Juab County Attorney David Leavitt,[3] alleged that Green married teenagers, divorced them, and then collected the welfare payments they received as "single mothers" while he continued living with them.[1] Described as "Utah's first high-profile bigamy case in half a century,"[1] Green's trial attracted substantial national attention[4][5][6] and some international media coverage.[7] His other wives also all refused to testify against him.[3]

On June 24, 2002, Green was convicted of child rape for having sex with 13-year-old Linda Kunz, who is now his legal wife. Kunz, who refused to testify against Green at the trial, was born in 1972, and gave birth to her first child with Green in 1986. Green had four other wives and 35 children in all. Tom Green was sentenced to five years in prison for the first conviction, and five years to life in prison for the second conviction. While in jail, one of his wives reportedly left him and took their children with her. Green was released from prison on parole on August 7, 2007.[8]

Documentary film

Green and his lifestyle were the subject of the British-made documentary One Man, Six Wives and Twenty-Nine Children[9] which was released in 2000 at the New York International Documentary Film Festival.[10]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d "Utah polygamist found guilty," May 19, 2001, CNN, accessed March 22, 2007
  2. ^ State v. Green, September 3, 2004, accessed March 22, 2006
  3. ^ a b http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1999/11/16/48hours/main70628.shtml
    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/06/24/national/main513227.shtml
  4. ^ LDS Newsroom - Tom Green, Polygamist coverage
  5. ^ Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly . COVER STORY . Polygamy . October 2, 1998 | PBS
  6. ^ Polygamist Will Appeal, Judge Gave Him Lightest Possible Sentence, Citing Wife's Support - CBS News
  7. ^ BBC News | AMERICAS | Polygamy on trial in Utah
  8. ^ "Utah polygamist released from prison on parole after serving 6 years", CNN.com, CNN (AP), August 7, 2007, archived from the original on 2008-05-18
  9. ^ One Man, Six Wives and Twenty-Nine Children in Directory on DFGDocs – The British Documentary Website
  10. ^ village voice > film > Based on a True Story by Michael Atkinson

External links

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