DENVER, Colo., April 25, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Kody Brown, the subject of the TLC reality show “Sister Wives,” and the four women he considers his wives on Monday requested that the Federal Appeals Court in Denver reconsider a case it dismissed earlier this month.
The 2014 case the Federal Appeals Court judge dismissed was one Brown and his family had filed stating that their constitutional rights to privacy and freedom of religion were violated in 2011 when they were investigated by the Lehi Police Department after launching the television show.
In 2014, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups found that parts of Utah’s polygamy law violated the Browns’ right to privacy and religious freedom. Waddoups struck down the law that made it illegal to cohabitate with multiple people, but he left in place the law that makes it illegal to be married to multiple people at the same time.
Brown and his family considered the decision a partial victory, but the State of Utah quickly filed an appeal with the Federal Appeals Court in Denver.
The appeals court judge considering that appeal is the one who this month dismissed the original case, stating that Brown and family faced no actual threat of prosecution, because in 2012, the Utah County Attorney’s office had declared it would not prosecute the Browns for polygamy alone — only if there was evidence of other crimes such as abuse or fraud.
Brown and “sister wives” Janelle, Meri, Robyn and Christine, have now requested the appeals case be heard by a panel of federal appeals court judges rather than a single judge.
