KEY WITNESS TESTIFIES IN POLYGAMIST WARREN JEFFS HEARING
By Mike Von Fremd
ABC News
November 21, 2006
Original LinkFifty-year-old fundamentalist church leader and polygamist Warren Jeffs reportedly showed little emotion during the preliminary hearing yesterday as prosecutors accused him of being an accomplice in two counts of rape.
Jeffs has an estimated 10 thousand followers, who consider him a prophet. Police SWAT teams and snipers were perched above the courthouse, and a mobile command post was set up across the street as Jeffs entered the courtroom in St. George, Utah.
Prosecutors said Jeffs enticed a 14-year-old girl into marriage with her 19-year-old cousin.
The now 20-year-old alleged rape victim, whose identity is being withheld, repeatedly broke down on the stand as she testified in court. She is pregnant by her second husband.
She testified that her wedding night was the worst night in her life. "He was a bully to me. He was my first cousin. I didn't respect him."
The victim told the court she was in the ninth grade at the time she was forced to marry, and said Jeffs told her she would not have a place in heaven unless she obeyed. "I felt completely defeated and trapped," she testified.
She also testified that she sometimes used sex to curry favors from her husband, such as money and time to see her friends. "I would just try to be a willing, submissive wife so that he would feel good about letting me do these things and have these things".
But under questioning from Jeffs' defense team the woman conceded that Jeffs never directly ordered her to have intercourse with her husband.
After the first day of the preliminary hearing, Jeffs attorney, Wally Burgden told reporters on the courthouse steps, "There was no rape," and he predicted a jury would see the case as "religious persecution."
Judge James Shumate will resume the hearing December 14 and decide if there is probable cause for a trial.
In his sermons Jeffs has counseled young women to be "submissive and obedient."
He believes in polygamy. The Church of the Latter Day Saints disavowed polygamy in 1890.
In an ABC News "Primetime" investigation, former church member Laurine Jessop says she, too, was forced into marriage by Jeffs. "I was trapped. I felt like I had done my very best in trying to live my religion. I was taught that the only rights a woman has is to be obedient to her husband."
Jeffs has built compounds where his followers live in Hildale, Utah; Colorado City, Ariz., and El Dorado, Texas. ABC News was given a bird's-eye view of the El Dorado property from a plane.
From the air you can see a glorious 90-foot temple that also looked a bit like a fortress. Jeffs followers have built a dozen three-story log cabins, cement and water treatment plants, a chicken coop, and a dairy farm. They have little need for anything from the outside world.
Flora Jessup, who also used to be a devotee of Jeffs, told ABC News, "He is considered the prophet and is probably one of the most evil men I have ever known in my life."
When Jeffs was accused of forcing teenage women to marry older men and for being an accomplice to rape, he fled. He was quickly put on the FBI's 10 most wanted list and a $100,00 reward was posted for his capture.
Jeffs alluded the authorities for four months and was finally arrested in August by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper. After searching his car, police discovered 27 stacks of money, each containing $2,500 along with 14 cell phones and two female wigs.
Former followers said that Jeffs teaches that wives belong to their husbands for eternity. He said that loyal men are permitted to take multiple wives as their reward. Jeffs also teaches that he has the power to reassign wives and children to other men.
Officials estimate that Jeffs himself has more than 50 wives, and the trust his church controls may be worth as much as $100 million.
Lawyers for the 50-year-old religious leader seek to have all charges against him dismissed.
Held in the Purgatory Correctional facility in Utah, Jeffs also faces charges in Arizona.
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WARREN JEFFS APPEARS IN COURT
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees / CNN
November 21, 2006
Original LinkTRANSCRIPT:
ROBERTS: Raw emotion today in a Utah courtroom during a hearing for Warren Jeffs -- tears from one of his accusers, a young woman who claims the polygamist leader forced her to marry her own first cousin when she was only 14 years old.
CNN's Gary Tuchman was in the courtroom today.
Gary, what was it like?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, today was the day that polygamist Warren Jeffs was to find out if his felony case was going to go to trial.
But, after emotional testimony in this Utah courtroom, first preliminary hearing, the judge hasn't made a decision yet. And we will tell you why in just a moment.
But, first, to set up what's going on, Warren Jeffs is being accused by the state of setting up and ordering and presiding over many marriages of girls under the age of 18 to men over 18.
But the star of this case is a witness who was 14 years old five years ago, when she says she was forced to marry her 19-year-old first cousin by Warren Jeffs. She also says that Jeffs was the man who told her she had to continue with it, even though she didn't to marry this 19-year-old first cousin.
Because prosecutors say she had sex unwillingly with this first cousin, Jeffs is being charged with being an accomplice to rape, faces the possibility of life in prison. This woman testified today -- and we're not allowed to show her to you on camera, because she was 14 back then. But she said, during her marriage -- quote -- "The entire time I was there, I was crying. I was so scared, I wanted to die."
She said she had no idea what it was like to be a wife. She said she didn't even know, when she got married, where babies came from. And she said, the first time she had sexual relations with her 19-year-old husband, she had no idea what was going on, she was horrified, and she was terrified.
She cried during much of the two hours of testimony. It certainly was very effective. I can tell you, there were some tears in the courtroom, but no tears among the 10 or so supporters of Warren Jeffs, and Warren Jeffs himself, who sat respectfully, but not emotionally. They were very stoic.
Now, we can tell that you Warren Jeffs' attorneys say there's no way he's guilty of being an accomplice to rape. They say, yes, like many other religions, he arranges marriages. He presides over marriages. But they say, this ex-husband hasn't even been charged with rape, so how can Warren Jeffs be charged with being an accomplice to rape?
Prosecutors say they reserve the right to charge that ex-husband later, but they haven't done it so far. But I did talk to those attorneys about what they thought. They say, this is a religious persecution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Do you think she wanted to married? That's all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. -- Mr. Jeffs is not charged with arranging a marriage. That's not the charge. He's charged with rape, with all of the emotional connotations of the charge of unconsented sexual intercourse, being an accomplice to that conduct. And he's not guilty of that charge. There was no rape. And my client, as an accomplice, is not guilty of rape.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: So, that was one of Warren Jeffs' defense attorneys.
We can tell you that there is a very low standard of proof for the judge to bring this to trial. He just has to have probable cause. He will make that decision next month, because the hearing did not end today. It was so emotional and so long, they will have to continue on December 14. And the judge will make that decision.
So, it's expected that it will go to trial. However, one thing that could be a problem for the prosecution in this case is, the now 20-year-old woman, who was 14 back then, has also filed a civil suit. And, a lot of times, when you are seeking money from the person who is on trial, that affects a jury the wrong way.
That remains to be seen, but that is an issue that is out here -- John, back to you.
ROBERTS: Great report, Gary Tuchman, in Saint George, Utah. Thanks. And we will get back to you next hour for more on this bizarre case.
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RELATED LINKS:
Wikipedia On Warren JeffsBustup In BountifulThe Man With 80 WivesRick A. Ross Institute's Polygamist GroupsNHNE Joseph Smith & The Mormons------------
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