On August 7, 2007, Utah Fundamentalist Mormon Tom Green was released on parole. The broader national polygamy rights movement always stood against him, long before local Mormon polygamists began going public in Utah. Moreover, when Green was first up for parole in 2004, a national op-ed was distributed to the media, setting a "litmus test" regarding Green’s "remorse." Three years later, one parole board member used that very "litmus test" as a forewarning condition for Green’s release.
On May 18, 2001, Tom Green was convicted of one count of criminal non-support and four counts of bigamy.
National Polygamy Advocate, Mark Henkel, of the (non-Mormon) TruthBearer.org organization immediately declared how Green was utterly reviled by the nationwide polygamy movement, even labeling Green as the "polygamy Tim McVeigh."
In a May 20, 2001 interview with TalkSport radio, Henkel explained, "It's much like the situation of Tim McVeigh, back in 1995, bombing the Federal Building in the Oklahoma City Bombing (on April 19, 1995) thinking he's being this 'good guy' for the - at that time there was a thing called the - 'militia movement,' and instead, he ends up destroying (that movement). And that's the same situation that (Green) poses for us."
After explaining that not all polygamy is based on Mormon polygamy, Henkel re-iterated the national polygamy movement's outrage at Green's underage crimes, "People have to know that when they hear this (Green) case, that absolutely, positively, the word, 'polygamy,' does not mean (underage), does not mean marrying your own daughter in your household, does not mean a 13-year-old girl. 'Polygamy' means 'polygamy.'"
Three months later, on August 24, 2007, Green was sentenced - five years for the one count of criminal non-support and paying restitution of $78,800 for it. Although the four counts of bigamy each carried a five-year sentence, the sentences were only to be served concurrently.
In an interview with Metro Source Radio Newswire that same day, Henkel explained, "In effect, (Green is) actually not going to be serving his sentences for any of the 'bigamy' charges, but actually only for the 'criminal non-support.' It just happens to be worded that he was sentenced to five years for all of these five charges, but the four 'bigamy' charges are merely served 'concurrently.' So, he only serves five years... for the true crime of 'criminal non-support.'"
In a separate trial the following year, Green was further convicted, on June 24, 2002, of child rape for "marrying" his step-daughter at 13. On August 28, 2002, he was additionally sentenced to five years to life, non-concurrently added to the five years he was already serving from the previous trial.
On August 12, 2004, Green sought early parole. Before the parole board, he claimed to be sorry for "marrying" his 13-year-old step-daughter.
On August 18, 2004, an op-ed for the national polygamy rights movement was sent to the media through www.Pro-Polygamy.com - "Pro-Polygamists Distrust Tom Green’s 'Apology.'" After listing the specifics of Green's history and pathology of lying, the op-ed concluded with the following "litmus test."
Quote, "pro-polygamists want that pathological liar away from the public eye forever…
"Was Tom Green telling the truth? Can the parole board trust his new found sorrow? Is Green really sorry?
"Pro-polygamists have a simple litmus test, and they will be watching.
"From now on, will Tom Green authorize even one media interview about himself? Will he do anything else to keep himself in the public eye or in ‘history’ regarding polygamy ever again?
"The next time he does anything like that, Tom Green will prove that he is still the same pathological liar and hero-wannabe. It will prove that he really did lie to that parole board and to the world.
"If sincere, he'll disappear."
Green was denied early release that year. But three years later, on July 17, 2007, he was again up before the parole board.
Upon the board's decision to allow the early release, one parole board member, Keith Hamilton, said to Green, "You get on TV again, …you marry someone under legal age and if you ever come back, …you come back on a first-degree (felony), you might never get out of prison again."
The very "litmus test" established by the national polygamy rights movement was given as a key forewarning for Green’s August 7, 2007, parole.
With that "litmus test" in place, Tom Green - the "polygamy Tim McVeigh" who never served a single day of real time for bigamy anyway – must now "disappear," never to be heard from again. Never.
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Bibliographic URLs:
http://www.truthbearer.org/media/talksport/
http://www.truthbearer.org/media/metro-source/
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/06/24/national/main513227.shtml
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/08/28/national/main520012.shtml
http://www.pro-polygamy.com/articles.php?news=0022
http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_6553709
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Aug07/0,4670,PolygamistapossRelease,00.html
[Reviewed for publication - Pro-Polygamy.com Review Board.]
