House panel endorses incest law change aimed at polygamists

With BC-CNS-Polygamy-Incest-Box

By ALYSON ZEPEDA
Cronkite News Service

PHOENIX (Thursday, March 5) _ A legislative panel endorsed a bill Thursday that supporters say would close a gap in Arizona’s law against incest that led a Mohave County judge to dismiss some charges against polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.

The current law defines incest as strictly between adults. HB 2066 would make the law apply to those under 18, a change that Deputy Attorney General Greg Stanton said would be useful in prosecuting those who engage in polygamy.

“The reality is that having an incest law that only dealt with adults and didn’t involve children put us at an prosecutorial disadvantage with dealing with the difficult issues in Colorado City,” Stanton told the House Judiciary Committee.

Last June, Superior Court Judge Steven Conn dismissed four counts against Jeffs because of the wording of Arizona’s law on incest. Those counts involved marriages allegedly arranged between two underage girls and their adult half-cousins.

Jeffs, who was convicted in Utah and is serving a prison term there, is awaiting trial in Mohave County on four other counts alleging that he acted as an accomplice in sexual misconduct with a minor.

Rep. David Lujan, D-Phoenix, the sponsor of HB 2066, said the current incest law is hindering prosecutors as they work to address abuses in polygamist communities.

“It’s an important correction we need to make to our laws,” he said in an interview.

The bill would make incest with a child under 15 a Class 2 felony carrying a minimum prison sentence of four years. Incest with a child who is at least 15 would be a Class 3 felony with a minimum sentence of two and a half years. Incest between adults would remain a Class 4 felony carrying a minimum sentence of 18 months.

The bill won unanimous approval from the Judiciary Committee, sending it to the House floor by way of the Rules Committee.

Lujan said he doesn’t expect opposition to the bill, which also is sponsored by Sen. Jonathan Paton, R-Tucson, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“I don’t think there is anything controversial about this bill,” he said.

Lujan is sponsoring another bill that he said would help women leave polygamist husbands. HB 2065 would bar judges from awarding custody to a parent who engages in child bigamy unless the judge states in writing why that action poses no threat to the child.

The House Health and Human Services Committee hadn’t taken up that bill.