Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Utah Polygamist Faces 25 Years in Prison

Aired June 23, 2001 - 16:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: A man in Utah is celebrating the birth of his child. That may not seem unusual, but for Tom Green, it's illegal. Green has been found guilty of polygamy and faces up to 25 years behind bars.

With more on his story, here's CNN's John Vause.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tom Green has just become a father again, for the 30th time.

TOM GREEN, POLYGAMIST: I sure hope we get to do some camping and some fishing together.

VAUSE: But Green may not be around much longer. He's the first man in 50 years to be found guilty of polygamy. In August, he will be sentenced and he faces up to 25 years in jail.

T. GREEN: My crime was creating a family and giving my children too many mothers, in the eyes of society, and for that the father has to be taken away from his children? That doesn't make a damned bit of sense to me, and that burns me. I hate it.

VAUSE: His family lives in a collection of battered trailers 60 miles from a paved road in the Utah desert. Three of his five wives are pregnant; a conscious decision when it became clear that their husband may be sent to prison.

CARI GREEN, TOM GREEN'S WIFE: We'll do what we have to do, and it'll be really sad. I think I'm mostly concerned about our teenage boys who really need their father home.

VAUSE: The Greens say they're on a religious mission, openly talking about polygamy, appearing on television to try and convince society that they're a normal, caring family.

(on camera): If Tom Green hadn't spoken out, hadn't publicized his lifestyle and instead just kept quiet like the estimated 30,000 other polygamists in Utah, chances are he wouldn't be facing any jail time. But neither Green nor his five wives have any regrets.

T. GREEN: I felt the spirit of God come over me, and I heard a voice in my head say go ahead and do it. VAUSE (voice-over): He says the criminal case was brought against him because state officials wanted him silenced before Salt Lake City hosts the next Winter Olympics. David Leavitt, the prosecuting attorney, denies any pre-Olympic sweep of polygamists and says Green's outspokenness simply called attention to his crimes.

DAVID LEAVITT, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Welfare fraud, child sexual abuse and bigamy is the triple crown of polygamy, and I think that Tom Green case has a little of all that and I don't think Tom Green is alone.

T. GREEN (singing): Happy birthday to you.

VAUSE: Chances are Tom Green will miss many birthdays in the coming months, but his wives say they'll keep the family together and will wait for him on their remote, lonely property in the western desert of Utah.

John Vause, CNN, Snake Valley, Utah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com