The Daily Herald

TROUT CREEK — They’ve been called child brides robbed of their innocence, victims of brainwashing.

But Linda Kunz Green, Shirley Beagley Green, LeeAnn Beagley Green, Cari Bjorkman Green and Hannah Bjorkman Green consider themselves loving wives and mothers who have chosen to live as they believe God wants them to live, while worrying about a state that is taking their husband, Tom Green, to court.

“I definitely don’t feel like a victim at all,” Linda Green said. “I think the whole child rape charges are stupid.”

The only thing that worries her and the others is if Green is found guilty in Provo, where he is facing charges of bigamy and criminal nonsupport for not paying back $50,000 in state assistance.

Linda Green is the focus of the state’s case against Green. She was declared Green’s common law wife by the court on the bigamy charges, and she is the “victim” in the pending child-rape case against Green, who married her in Mexico when she was 13.

The other wives were married between the ages of 14 and 16. Together, they have born Green 29 children, with one more due next month.

One thing the Green women are adamant about, is they were not forced into marrying Green.

“Each of us wanted to marry him,” Shirley Green said. “It’s not like we were coerced into this.”

She said some have accused them of suffering from Stockholm syndrome, but it’s not possible since they placed themselves into the situation.

Linda Green said polygamy was not an alien concept to her. She came from a polygamist family going back to Short Creek, the Arizona polygamist enclave that was raided in 1953.

“I come from 100 years of unbroken polygamy. My father, grandfather and great-grandfather all came from polygamists,” Linda Green said.

She said after getting to know Green, who had married her mother, that she wanted to be a polygamist wife to Green.

Green said that if had he married Linda Green in Vermont instead of Mexico, Juab County Attorney David Leavitt wouldn’t have a case against him because Vermont allows 13-year-olds to be married. Utah is constitutionally required to recognize other states’ marriage rules.

Linda Green said it was the right decision.

“No one has ever shown me that getting married at that age has harmed me or hindered me in any way,” she said.

None of the other wives thinks they’ve been deprived of their childhood by marrying so young.

“I wouldn’t trade it for the life of a teen-ager, hanging out at the mall or ending up pregnant with no husband,” Hannah Green said.

Tom Green said the reason his marriage has been successful is because of four principles: communication, coordination, cooperation and compromise.

“By implementing the four Cs, we can get things done,” Green said.

There are the usual disagreements and friction found in any marriage, but Green said those principles help settle them amicably.

He said he and his wives work for the good of the family above their own self-interests. In that fashion, each spouse has five other people pulling for them.

Linda Green and the other wives say they don’t try to push polygamy on other people, but rather try to explain the doctrine and dispel misconceptions.

However, they said some people don’t give them that same consideration. LeeAnn Green said monogamist neighbors have suggested having the Green children come live with them to see what a “normal” family is like.

“Tom said, ‘Great idea. When our girls are 16, we’ll send them to you for three or four months, and then you send your kids to us to see how we live,’ ” LeeAnn Green said.

The women also have no regrets about sharing their lifestyle with the world through newspaper and television interviews, even though it has meant charges against their husband.

“How can I face my ancestors on the other side if I say I didn’t stand up for the things that they did?” Linda Green said.

The court case, which begins today, is taking a toll on the family. They haven’t been able to take care of some of the tasks needed to prepare for summer, and the children have been put back into public schools because there is too much to do to continue their home-schooling as well as get ready for the trial.

“Our sons have talked about not seeing their father until they are men,” Linda Green said.

But they are holding out hope that Green will be acquitted.

“If we didn’t, we would all be so depressed,” LeeAnn Green said.

Shirley Green hopes that people in Provo can examine the facts in an unbiased fashion and not be swayed by prejudice.

But they are steeling themselves for the worst-case scenario.

“If he goes to prison, the most important thing is to hold the family together,” Cari Green said.

Donald W. Meyers can be reached at 344-2544 or dmeyer@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.