FELONY BIGAMY (with MULTIPLE PRIOR FELONIES) REDUCED to PROBATION with 3 MONTHS in Jail – State v. Mr. R (DMC No. 5700) (Maricopa County Superior Court CR2002-098145): Mr. R was a 50 year old blind and bipolar man who had numerous prior felony convictions raging from 2nd Degree Murder to Fraud Schemes to cashing of Bad Checks. He had been married numerous times, and during one of those he did not secure a divorce when he lived in New Mexico. He then got married in Arizona while he was still married in New Mexico. While going through a separation with his Arizona wife, she discovered that he was still married in New Mexico, and he was subsequently indicted with Bigamy per Arizona Revised Statute ARS 13-3606.
Although the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office was asking for 2 years in prison, we were able to convince the Judge that his prior conviction for 2nd Degree Murder (against a prior wife) was not a basis for giving him prison in the present offense. We were able to show the Judge that this new charge was purely an error on Mr. R’s part in that his prior divorce consent decree had not actually been filed in New Mexico. The Judge agreed that he should not be sent back to prison, and he was only given probation with 3 months of Jail time.
