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Taylor Frankie Paul, star of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, will face no new charges following domestic violence investigations by Utah police.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday (AEDT) that it would not charge the reality TV star following two separate investigations led by the Draper Police Department and West Jordan Police Department.
“Due to the high profile of the defendant, the cases were reviewed by multiple attorneys,” the District Attorney’s Office told The Salt Lake Tribune. The Salt Lake District Attorney’s Office said it has not considered charges against anyone else over the incident.
In March, footage emerged of Paul allegedly striking and throwing a breakfast bar stool at her former partner, Dakota Mortensen, in 2023. Her daughter allegedly witnessed the incident and can be heard in the background of the video, which was obtained by TMZ. According to the news outlet, a police report had alleged the five-year-old girl was hit during the fracas.
The upcoming 22nd season of The Bachelorette – in which Paul starred – was subsequently axed. Filming of the fifth season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives had also already paused.
Following the 2023 incident, Paul was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and other offences, including domestic violence in the presence of a child. This incident was discussed in the first season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, a popular Hulu/Disney reality show that follows Mormon and ex-Mormon women living in Utah.
Paul pleaded guilty the following August to a misdemeanour charge of aggravated assault, and the other charges were dismissed.
It was revealed last month that a domestic violence police investigation was ongoing regarding Paul and Mortensen, with whom she shares a son. According to People magazine, allegations were made in both directions.
Nearly a week later, it was reported that Paul was under investigation for an alleged third domestic violence incident in 2024, also involving herself and Mortensen. This investigation was launched by the West Jordan Police Department.
Both investigations have since concluded, and the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office this week decided it would file no new charges against Paul. According to Salt Lake City’s ABC 4, the District Attorney said that since some of the alleged events took place more than three years ago, the statute of limitations had expired.
Those alleged cases reportedly “lacked sufficient evidence to support filing criminal charges where the state must be able to prove such allegations beyond a reasonable doubt”, the Salt Lake City District Attorney report noted, per ABC 4.
“Such incidents lack specificity as to when and what actually occurred or corroboration. Based on the evidence submitted for screening by the Draper Police Department and West Jordan Police Department, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office declines to file any charges.”
In early April, a Utah court commissioner ruled Paul could not spend unsupervised time with her two-year-old son due to concerns about the volatile behaviour she displayed during confrontations between her and Mortensen. Duelling petitions for protective orders from both Paul and Mortensen will be assessed in a court hearing later this month. Eleven fights between Paul and Mortensen were reportedly under examination in their protective order requests. They each have accused the other of being the primary aggressor in several of the alleged incidents.
Paul, 31, became known as an influencer in the #MomTok community, a group of women from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sharing their lives on TikTok.
In a statement confirming her Bachelorette casting in October, ABC credited Paul with “igniting ‘MomTok’ and going viral for pulling back the curtain on Salt Lake’s soft-swinging scene”.
National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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