UTAH AMENDMENT MAY AFFECT POLYGAMY: From the Deseret Morning News

An anti-polygamy group believes that if voters decide to ban gay marriages in Utah's constitution this Nov. 2, they'll also be opening a "legal loophole" that could make prosecuting polygamy tougher.

However, two attorneys who have successfully prosecuted polygamy say that by clearly defining marriage as the union of "a man and a woman," Amendment 3 could make cases against polygamists easier to prove.

Vicky Prunty, executive director of Tapestry Against Polygamy, said lawmakers declined to address polygamy when they refused to change the wording to define marriage as "one man and one woman." At the time, lawmakers said the amendment didn't need to address polygamy, which is already outlawed by the state Constitution....

But Prunty added that the amendment does not allow the state to give the "same or substantially equivalent legal effect" as a marriage to any other "domestic union, however denominated."

She said the fallout of the amendment's language is that polygamists will have a constitutional argument saying the state cannot recognize their "domestic unions" as marriages and, therefore, can't prosecute them. ...

Prunty was referring to the state's common law marriage statute, which can be used to establish a state-recognized marriage, even if no license has been issued. That statute was used to prosecute polygamist Tom Green, who was legally married to one wife and cohabitating with others, for bigamy. ...

Leavitt said the amendment would have no impact on the common law approach for prosecuting bigamy.

"Marriage is when a man and a woman engage in a ceremony and are married, or their conduct is such that the state of Utah can say they are acting like they're married," Leavitt said.

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