Why?
The girls' ages here are immaterial from a legal standpoint. Just because they're 16 doesn't mean much.
Legally the question is: When were they married, and what was the age of consent at that time?
If they're 16 now and they were married 2 years ago when the age of consent was 14, then there's not much of a case here.
I also notice that there's not much mention here of the 12 year old's that were bandied about in these threads.
They weren’t “married”, so the legal age of marriage isn’t the pertinent information. And Jeffs IS being prosecuted for raping a 12 year old, who is back in CPS custody.
Actually, even if they were married at say 14, and that was the age of consent (with a parent’s consent) if the man was married to someone else, then the marriage was illegal and then he’s just having sex with a minor (which no one can consent to).
susie
I was going to make the point that there was no legal marriage involved, the crime is statutory rape, or it's equivalent in Texas, but I see others have replied to this point. So I say again, "Git a rope!"