The polygamist on trial is not Tom Green, who was covered in the documentary above.  Various United States law enforcement officials believe the number of Americans living in “plural marriages” to be anywhere from 50,000 to above 100,000. That is not the number of marriages, since it is hard to determine the precise combination of male to females within each of the polygamist relationships. There are two prominent religions in the United States which claim polygamy to be a religious right: the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as well as Islam. In America, most of the attention is focused on the Mormon fundamentalists, who formed their own church when the main Mormon church changed it’s position and began to oppose polygamy.  This resulted in the predominantly Mormon (at the time) state of Utah to ban polygamy in 1892. Many of those mormons, facing trial such as Tom Green for a practice viewed as religious in nature, consider themselves to be unfairly persecuted. It is notable that the word “marriage” seems to be an obstacle to what is an otherwise legal practice: men and women can legally “cohabitate” with any number of people in polyamorous relationships.

The newest polygamist to go on trial is Raymond Jessop, 38, who will become the first polygamist from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Texas to go on trial.