Biography
George Reynolds was the personal secretary to LDS Church president Brigham Young. As a test case for the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act of 1862 he allowed himself to be prosecuted for polygamy in U.S. Territorial Court for Utah. Convicted October 1875; the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1879), the foundational Free Exercise Clause case holding that religious belief does not exempt one from a generally applicable criminal law. Reynolds served 18 months at the Utah Territorial Penitentiary, beginning June 16, 1879 and was released January 20, 1881.
Case
Utah Territorial Penitentiary
