The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office has declined to file charges against reality television personality Taylor Frankie Paul following a domestic violence investigation involving her former partner Dakota Mortensen. The decision was announced on Tuesday, April 14, bringing closure to an investigation that temporarily halted production of a popular streaming series.
District Attorney Sim Gill's office issued a statement confirming the outcome: "After reviewing reports and evidence submitted to the Draper Police Department and West Jordan Police Department, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office has declined to file charges against Taylor Frankie Paul."
The investigation stemmed from an alleged dispute between Paul, 31, and Mortensen, 33, that became public on Monday, March 16. The incident led to a temporary suspension of production for season 5 of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, the Hulu series that features Paul as a cast member.
A spokesperson for Utah's Draper City Police Department confirmed at the time that authorities were conducting an open "domestic assault investigation." According to police statements, allegations were "made in both directions," and "contact was made with involved parties on [February] 24th and 25th." The involvement of multiple police departments—Draper and West Jordan—suggests the investigation spanned different jurisdictions within Salt Lake County.
This marks the second time Paul has been investigated for domestic violence involving Mortensen. Three years earlier, she was arrested following a separate altercation with her then-partner. In that 2023 case, Paul pleaded guilty to aggravated assault. Additional charges of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse with injury, and criminal mischief were dismissed as part of the resolution.
Following the 2023 incident, Mortensen publicly defended Paul in an interview, stating she would never hurt anyone "intentionally." He attributed her struggles to personal difficulties, including the dissolution of her marriage to Tate Paul, with whom she shares daughter Indy, 8, and son Ocean, 5. That divorce followed Paul's public confession regarding her participation in soft-swinging, which became a central storyline on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.
Paul and Mortensen share a son, Ever, who was born in March 2024. Despite attempts to maintain their relationship following Paul's 2023 arrest, the couple ultimately separated in 2025. Paul has been candid about the challenges of their on-again, off-again dynamic, describing it as a cycle she found difficult to break.
During the first season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Paul reflected on her arrest experience. "Getting arrested, it was the worst night of my life. I ended up being charged with aggravated assault with three years of probation," she stated on the show. "After the arrest, I was under so much stress. I was filmed leaving the jail and then that was immediately on the internet. It was a blessing in disguise. It helped me wake up."
Following her split from Mortensen, Paul accepted an offer to become the lead on season 22 of The Bachelorette, which premiered on March 22. She has characterized the decision as an attempt to remove herself from what she described as a toxic situation in Utah.
"There was no other reason for me to do this other than I wanted to get outside of Utah and the toxicity that I'm in and venture off and really do something for myself," Paul explained in a recent interview. She acknowledged her own role in the troubled relationship dynamics: "It was hard because I'm, obviously, a part of that — it's not like I am pointing the finger like, 'He is [the toxic one].' It takes two to tango. We were just not progressing."
The decision by the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office to decline prosecution does not necessarily indicate that no incident occurred, but rather that prosecutors determined the available evidence did not meet the threshold for criminal charges. Such decisions are routine in domestic violence investigations where evidence may be conflicting or insufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The resolution of this investigation allows production of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives to potentially resume, though no official announcement regarding the show's timeline has been made. Paul's participation in The Bachelorette adds another layer of complexity to her television commitments and public profile as she navigates both personal challenges and professional opportunities in the reality television landscape.