Appeals court upholds polygamist’s conviction

Source: ktar.com

A member of a polygamist sect has lost his appeal of convictions stemming from his claimed marriage to a 16-year-old girl and fathering her child.

The Arizona Court of Appeals on Tuesday rejected the appeals of Kelly Fischer. He was convicted in 2006 of one count each of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. Fischer was sentenced to 45 days in the Mohave County Jail and three years probation.

Fischer was among eight members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were indicted in May 2005, on charges of marrying under-aged girls. The defendants lived in Colorado City on the Arizona-Utah border, where the headquarters for the FLDS are located.

According to the indictment, Fischer had two wives and married the 16-year-old daughter of his second wife in 2000. At age 17, she gave birth to a baby girl on Aug. 31, 2001. The birth certificate listed Fischer as the father and said he was 33 at the time.

Fischer claimed his convictions violated his rights to freedom of religion under the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and his right to due process under the 14th Amendment. He also claimed that he was not permitted to present a defense that sex with the woman was allowed because she was his spouse. In addition, he claimed the Superior Court unfairly allowed hearsay testimony and that there was not sufficient evidence to support the convictions.
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