ABC pulled the plug on an entire season of "The Bachelorette" days before its premiere. Sponsors bolted. A restraining order landed. And now, a Utah criminal defense attorney says the woman at the center of it all could spend up to five years behind bars if prosecutors move forward with charges tied to a new domestic violence investigation.
Taylor Frankie Paul, the 31-year-old star of Hulu's "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives," is watching her career and legal standing collapse in real time. The Draper City prosecutor is reviewing an investigation into a February 23 incident at Paul's Utah home involving her ex-boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen. Mortensen called 911 that night. Their two-year-old son, Ever, was reportedly present.
The stakes go well beyond bad publicity. Paul already sits on probation from a 2023 arrest for aggravated assault in a domestic violence incident, also involving Mortensen. That earlier case ended in a plea in abeyance, a legal arrangement that holds a guilty plea in suspension as long as the defendant follows the court's conditions. One of those conditions: commit no further crimes. If prosecutors charge Paul again and she's convicted, that suspended plea snaps into place, and with it, a third-degree felony conviction carrying up to five years in a Utah prison.
Utah criminal defense attorney Nathan Evershed, speaking to The U.S. Sun, laid out the chain of consequences in blunt terms.
"It's the prosecution that's going to make the determination whether they're going to file charges, and if they do, there could be an arrest or there could be a summons to court."
Evershed didn't stop there. He pointed directly at the 2023 case hovering over Paul's head.
"The biggest deal that would happen, though, is that she has a pending felony count of aggravated assault with domestic violence. It's a plea that's held in abeyance, meaning that should she violate her terms, one of them being not to commit any further crime, then that plea could then be entered."
Entered means convicted. And convicted means prison is on the table. Evershed called it plainly: "It's a felony conviction if it's entered. It's a third-degree felony here in Utah, and she could be facing up to five years in prison should that happen." Paul's probation doesn't expire until August 2026. Every month between now and then is a window of legal exposure.
Authorities who spoke to The U.S. Sun described the February 23 matter as a complex "he said, she said" situation, with allegations of violence running in both directions. Fox News reported that police said domestic abuse allegations were made "in both directions" after officers contacted both Paul and Mortensen on February 24 and 25.
Mortensen has since filed a restraining order against Paul. A representative for Mortensen told Entertainment Weekly, as cited by The U.S. Sun, that "his number one priority here is protecting Ever." The representative added that Mortensen "knew there was a possibility it could come out, but he was not going to be the one to proactively do that because he has always wanted a decent relationship with Taylor."
Paul, for her part, appeared on Good Morning America and acknowledged she doesn't know when her Hulu series will resume filming. On Fox News, she was quoted saying the situation feels overwhelming.
"When your life is broadcasted out there in these headlines, it's like the end of the world."
Heavy headlines, sure. But the weight here comes from court records, not tabloid gossip.
The current legal jeopardy traces back to Paul's 2023 arrest. TMZ published video from that incident showing Paul physically attacking Mortensen, pushing, kicking, and throwing a metal barstool, while a child was present and crying, AP News reported. Paul was arrested on multiple charges including aggravated assault. She later pleaded guilty, and several other charges, including domestic violence in the presence of a child, were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
Breitbart noted that Paul was sentenced to three years of probation under that arrangement, with prosecutors dropping several charges in exchange for the guilty plea. That leniency is exactly what now puts her in danger. The plea in abeyance was a second chance. A new conviction would erase it.
When the 2023 video resurfaced and went viral, the entertainment industry didn't wait for prosecutors to act. ABC and Disney canceled Season 22 of "The Bachelorette", which had already been filmed with Paul as the lead, just three days before its scheduled premiere.
A Disney Entertainment Television spokesperson said the quiet part out loud, as the Washington Times reported: "In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of 'The Bachelorette' at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family."
The fallout spread fast. NBC canceled a planned "Tonight Show" appearance. Cinnabon ended its partnership with Paul. Hulu paused filming of "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives." A production insider told The U.S. Sun that filming for the show's fifth season had been suspended for two weeks.
Cast members and production staff distanced themselves. The corporate machinery that had built Paul into a brand dismantled her platform almost overnight.
The legal and custody implications extend beyond Paul's criminal exposure. She is a mother of three, Ever with Mortensen, and two children, Indy and Ocean, with ex-husband Tate Paul. Evershed warned that the Utah Department of Child and Family Services could take interest in a pattern of incidents.
"If there's one thing that DCFS doesn't really like is a pattern of cases that are open up and that are involved with the children. They would of course, be looking to see if there is a pattern of possible issues involved with childcare and domestic issues that would need some state involvement."
Evershed also predicted that any new criminal charge would ripple into custody proceedings. He said he would "be surprised if these other custody cases did not approach the topic of a possible arrest" and noted that parties in custody disputes "will leverage that, they will utilize that, and it's really to be expected."
The attorney added a caveat: judges don't give allegations much weight "unless there's actual charge that's in place." But if the Draper City prosecutor does file, that distinction vanishes. And the children, Ever, Indy, Ocean, become subjects of state scrutiny that no reality show contract can manage.
A plea in abeyance is not a slap on the wrist. It's a structured act of mercy by the court system, a bet that the defendant will stay clean. Utah law doesn't require judges to offer it. Evershed described it as something that is "not something that's statutorily based, where it should be applicable to all cases." Courts can also impose conditions around alcohol use, especially when children are involved and the defendant has a prior record.
Paul got that bet placed in her favor after a violent 2023 incident caught on camera. Multiple charges were dropped. She walked away with probation instead of a felony record. The system bent toward leniency.
Now, less than a year into that probation, prosecutors are reviewing a new investigation involving the same alleged victim and, reportedly, the same child. The question isn't whether the system was generous. It was. The question is whether that generosity was earned.
Evershed framed the worst-case scenario with precision:
"That would be the disaster for her is that if there was a charge, not just a charge, but then eventually a conviction that could violate her plea in abeyance. And she could be found as a guilty felon and possibly going to prison with this underlying case that's been lingering since 2023."
The entertainment industry moved fast to cut ties. Sponsors fled. Networks scrubbed their schedules. That's corporate self-preservation, not justice. Justice moves slower, through prosecutor reviews, restraining order hearings, and probation violation proceedings.
Paul told Fox News that the allegations feel "like the end of the world." But for the child reportedly present during these incidents, the world didn't end. It just got harder. And for the court system that gave Paul a second chance in 2023, the February 23 investigation is a test of whether leniency without consequences is leniency at all.
Second chances mean something only when the people who receive them treat them like they do.
