Bigamy legal in Missouri ... for at least one man

By Justin Kendall in News

Thu., May. 21 2009 @ 10:25AM

William and Marcella Rivera and their five children

The criminal bigamy case against William Rivera just got even more awkward. Rivera was facing criminal bigamy charges after his first wife's mother watched her son-in-law get married a second time on Fox 4 a couple of Valentine's Days ago. How romantic (except for that whole still-being-married business).

So wife No. 1, Marcella Rivera turned in her husband to Independence police. Guess she didn't like that fact that he'd just married another woman -- with whom he'd had a baby. Still, she wanted him back.

Now, KCTV 5 reports that the bigamy charges against Rivera were dismissed, and his lawyer is claiming that Rivera suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq -- and "didn't remember still being married to her and thought they were divorced."

Ooh. But Marcella is calling bullshit.

"I guess if I truly believe in my heart that he didn't know, then OK, yes, he has PTSD and he didn't know; Iraq totally messed him up. But I know he knew he was married, because we had discussed it," Marcella Rivera told KCTV. "There are real soldiers suffering from PTSD and he's using that as a crutch."

Just because the charges were dropped, don't count her out. She wants to file a civil suit against William, but money's tight, you know, with the recession and their five kids and all.

Watch the whole sordid affair: "Woman Upset Husband Legally Has 2nd Wife" (KCTV-5)