Polygamist sect leader appears in court
Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs made his first appearance in a Utah courtroom today as a judge set a November 21 hearing to determine if there is probable cause to send him to trial on charges of arranging an underage marriage.
“Yes, sir. Yes, your honour,” Jeffs replied when asked if he was willing to wait nearly two months for the preliminary hearing.
Judge James Shumate said he would address Jeffs’ bond status at that time. He remains in jail.
The hearing for the self-proclaimed prophet who heads the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints lasted less then 10 minutes. Jeffs is charged with two counts of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony that carries life in prison.
Under his suit, tie and white shirt, Jeffs was wearing a bullet-proof vest. There was tight security inside and outside the Washington County courthouse, including SWAT teams.
Prosecutors claim Jeffs, 50, forced a teenage girl to enter a spiritual marriage with an older man and submit to sex in order to produce children.
The girl twice told Jeffs she did not want to marry or have sex, but was told it was her “spiritual duty” to submit because the marriage had been arranged by God, according to court filings.
Named to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list in May, Jeffs was arrested last month during a traffic stop near Las Vegas. He had been a fugitive for nearly two years.
Jeffs, who took over the leadership of the church from his father in 2002, is also facing two felony charges in Arizona for a similarly arranged marriage. He will face those charges after the Utah case.
The FLDS is a sect that practices polygamy in marriages determined by its leaders. For nearly 100 years, members of the sect, which number nearly 10,000, have lived insular lives in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona.
