Court hands defeat on polygamy to family from 'Sister Wives'

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A federal appeals court today dismissed a landmark decision that decriminalized polygamy in Utah, marking a legal defeat for the family from the reality TV show "Sister Wives."

Kody Brown and his four wives cannot sue the state over its ban on plural marriages because the family never faced charges and prosecutors later said they would not prosecute consenting adults with multiple wives, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled.

The decision reverses a 2013 ruling that removed the threat of arrest for polygamous families. U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups had found that the threat of prosecution alone drove the Browns out of the state and that key parts of Utah's bigamy law violated their right to privacy and religious freedom.

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes appealed Judge Waddoups' ruling. The state has a longstanding policy against prosecuting consenting adult polygamists, but prosecutors argued the ban should stay on the books to help authorities go after polygamists who commit other crimes, such as sexual assault, statutory rape and exploitation of government benefits.

Prosecutors also pointed to imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs, who was convicted of assaulting underage girls he considered wives.