(Image Source: TLC)
BY LAUREN ZIMA
The Sister Wives will have another day in court. A new ruling from a Utah judge says TLC’s reality family can continue with its lawsuit challenging Utah’s anti-bigamy law.
The famous family includes Kody Brown and his four wives. They sued the Utah County Attorney, the governor, and the state Attorney General last July, saying the state’s bigamy statute violates their rights to freedom of religion, speech and association. The county attorney had threatened to prosecute the Browns after their show debuted in September 2010.
The family then moved out of Utah to a Las Vegas suburb to avoid charges. The New York Post explains the judge’s new ruling.
“... [the Attorney General] has a policy of not prosecuting consenting adult polygamists as long as they’re not committing other crimes. But the judge wrote that [the county attorney] conducted interviews with the news media that made it clear he intended to investigate and prosecute the Browns. The fact that no charges have been filed does not matter, [the judge] says.”
The Salt Lake Tribune says the judge was upset over the attorneys’ chatter with the media.
“[He] lambasted Utah County prosecutors, who discussed a bigamy investigation to the Salt Lake Tribune, People magazine and other media shortly after the show premiered … ‘The entirety of actions by the Utah County prosecutors tend to show either an ill-conceived public-relations campaign to showboat their own authority and/or harass the Browns …’ [he] wrote.”
The Browns say they’re thankful to the court, but a writer for Gather isn’t so supportive.
“So Kody Brown and his four wives will now feel even more justified in their illegal lifestyle … And not only are they promoting something that most people deem immoral and illegal, they are making money via their reality show Sister Wives while doing so.”
But Gawker says …
“On the other hand, the lawsuit brings awareness to other polygamous families out there suffering …”
The lawsuit will continue against the Utah county attorney, but the judge has dropped the governor and attorney general from the case.
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