Taylor Frankie Paul, known for her roles in “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” and the canceled season of “The Bachelorette,” will not face charges following recent altercations with her former partner, as confirmed by the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday. The police in Draper City and West Jordan, suburbs of Salt Lake City, had been investigating allegations of domestic violence made by Paul’s ex-partner, Dakota Mortensen, in 2024 and this February. Paul has also accused Mortensen of misconduct, though these claims were not addressed in the official documents.
Any new charges against Paul would have violated her existing probation, which was a result of an assault on Mortensen in 2023. Both parties have filed petitions for protective orders against each other, which are set to be discussed in an upcoming hearing.
Breanne Miller, a lawyer from the district attorney’s Family Protection Unit, explained in a memo that Paul would not be charged due to several incidents not meeting the criteria for criminal offenses, and others lacking sufficient evidence for prosecution. Some of the reported incidents were also outside the legal review timeframe, dating back more than three years.
The decision not to press charges does not directly impact Mortensen’s current protective order against Paul, which is temporarily granted and might be extended at an upcoming hearing on April 30. However, the lack of prosecution could potentially support Paul’s case in seeking unsupervised visits with her son, as ruled by a court commissioner in an earlier hearing.
During an April 7 hearing, Eric Swinyard, Paul’s lawyer, argued that Mortensen instigated a physical altercation in February, referred to as the “truck tussle.” Mortensen claimed Paul threw a drink at him during an argument in a truck, while Swinyard alleged that Mortensen aggressively pushed Paul’s head into the dashboard and physically assaulted her, providing photographic evidence of her injuries.
Another incident involving the couple in 2023 led to the shelving of a filmed season of “The Bachelorette” by ABC, as video footage surfaced showing Paul engaging in violent behavior towards Mortensen in front of her young daughter. Paul faced charges of aggravated assault and domestic violence in the presence of a child, pleading guilty to assault, with other charges being dismissed under a probationary period ending in August.
The ongoing legal battle between Paul and Mortensen, as well as their tumultuous relationship, have been extensively covered in the media, particularly on “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” where their story was a focal point since its premiere in 2024.