Salt Lake County prosecutors have declined to file new criminal charges against reality TV figure Taylor Frankie Paul after reviewing domestic-violence allegations tied to multiple incidents involving her former partner, Dakota Mortensen. In letters sent to police agencies in Draper and West Jordan, the district attorney’s office said some allegations fell outside Utah’s time limits for misdemeanor prosecution, while other incidents did not meet the standard for criminal filing or lacked enough evidence and corroboration to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. The office added that the review does not change Paul’s probation status from her 2023 case.
The decision closes one track of a legal fight that still carries major consequences. Paul and Mortensen, who share a 2-year-old son, are due back in court on April 30 over competing protective-order petitions. At an April 7 hearing, a judge granted Mortensen temporary custody and limited Paul to supervised visitation. Prosecutors’ decision on charges does not resolve that family-court battle, where both sides have accused the other of abuse and manipulation. Paul’s lawyer argued in court that Mortensen was the aggressor in one February confrontation and said photos documented her injuries; Mortensen’s side has denied her claims and pressed its own account of violence.
The case has also revived scrutiny of the couple’s past. In 2023, Paul was arrested after a violent altercation captured on video and later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge after other counts were dropped. That footage resurfaced last month, triggering ABC to shelve her already filmed season of The Bachelorette. Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which had made the relationship part of its public story line, paused production after the latest round of allegations drew renewed attention.
What prosecutors did leave open is almost as important as what they closed. In materials described by People, the district attorney’s office said it could revisit the matter if new supporting evidence emerges. That keeps the door ajar in a case where law enforcement reviewed reports from two departments, video tied to an alleged 2024 incident and claims made in both directions. For now, the criminal case stands down, while the custody and protective-order fight keeps moving in public view.
