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| Teressa Wall Blackmore is now fighting for custody of her children because of FLDS retaliation for her testimony on behalf of her sister, Elissa Wall, during the Rape as an Accomplice trial of Warren Jeffs. Go here for more information on this terrible situation and how you can help Teressa maintain custody of her children! | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Multiply and Replenish the Earth with Allen Steed | |||||||||||||||||||||
In April 2001, Warren Jeffs told 14-year-old Elissa Wall that she had to marry her 19-year-old first cousin, Allen Glade Steed. Elissa despised Allen because he had made fun of her and called her names, so she begged her family members and the Prophet Rulon Jeffs to not make her marry Allen. She was told by Rulon's son, Warren Jeffs, that "her heart was in the wrong place" and that she had to go through with the marriage. The ceremony was conducted in room number 15 at the Caliente Hot Springs Motel in Caliente, Nevada. Since marriage to a first cousin at age 14 is illegal in Utah, theirs was not a legally recognized marriage. Elissa had never had any type of sex education and knew absolutely nothing about the "Birds and the Bees". She also wanted to wait to have children because she thought she was too young for that. She had counseling sessions with Warren Jeffs because her husband was doing (sexual) things she did not like and did not want to do. Warren Jeffs told her that she risked her eternal salvation if she refused to have sexual relations with her husband. This lack of consent to have sex on Elissa's part led to the September 2007 trial of Warren Jeffs, who was charged with two counts of rape as an accomplice. At the time of Warren's trial, the husband Allen Steed had not yet been charged with commiting the actual rape of Elissa. Warren was found guilty on both charges on September 25, 2007 in St. George, Utah. Allen Glade Steed was charged with the crime on September 21st and arrested on October 4th for the rape of Elissa Wall. Below are articles about their marriage and the charges against Allen for raping Elissa. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Allen Steed Arrested for the Rape of Elissa Wall | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Bookings Washington County Sheriff's Office washeriff.state.ut.us Originally published October 4, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Birth Date: 05/12/81 Address : 65 N OAK COURT, Hildale, UT
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| Polygamist husband in Jeffs trial turns self in on rape charges | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Reported by Brent Hunsaker ABC 4 News Originally broadcast October 4, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ST. GEORGE, Utah (ABC 4 News) - Allen Steed was 19. Elissa Wall was 14. They were married by Warren Jeffs and told to "go forth and multiply". Wall testified she pleaded with Warren not to force her to marry Steed. And when he went ahead and did it anyway, she said she pleaded with her new husband not to consummate the marriage. But he did anyway. Last month a jury found that Wall was raped and Warren Jeffs was guilty of being an accomplice to that rape. Now Steed has been arrested for the rape itself. Steed was arrested Wednesday evening on a felony warrant issued two weeks ago. On the surface it would seem unremarkable. A cop did his duty. A suspect is booked into jail and then makes bail. Below the surface, there are several oddities. Sources close to the case say these oddities seem to show that Warren Jeffs is still pulling all the strings in the polygamous communities of Hildale and Colorado City: - The arrest is made by Helaman Barlow, a fellow believer in Warren Jeffs and a town marshal. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Steed has bail hearing | |||||||||||||||||||||
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By Patrice St. Germain The Spectrum Originally published October 5, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ST. GEORGE - Allen Glade Steed appeared in 5th District Court on Thursday morning for a bail hearing. Steed, 26, was charged with one count of rape on Sept. 26, the day after a jury found Warren Steed Jeffs guilty on two counts of rape as an accomplice for arranging the 2001 marriage between Steed and his then 14-year-old cousin Elissa Wall. Steed was booked on the charge Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Purgatory Correctional Facility after Steed contacted the Hildale/Colorado City Town Marshal's Office and turned himself in to Officer Helaman Barlow at the Hildale Town Office. Lt. Jake Adams, with the Washington County Sheriff's Office, said Steed paid $5,000 cash bail and was released at 3:12 a.m. "When he (Steed) came in, there were about 10 people ahead of him waiting to be booked and because it was drug court day, we had commitments coming in (from the court), so it took a while and he had to wait his turn," Adams said. Steed appeared in court at 9 a.m. with his parents and his attorneys, Jim Bradshaw and Mark Moffat, before Judge G. Rand Beacham. The court appearance was brief. Bradshaw asked for a status conference to set a date for a preliminary hearing after he had looked at the substantial amount of discovery. The telephone conference was scheduled for Nov. 2. Bradshaw said following the hearing that he had been retained as Steed's attorney months ago. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Attorneys in rape case seek dismissal of charge | |||||||||||||||||||||
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By Nancy Perkins Deseret Morning News Originally published Thursday, November 15, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ST. GEORGE — Attorneys for Allen Glade Steed are seeking a dismissal of the first-degree felony rape charge filed against him and a change of venue, arguing the potential jury pool is irreparably tainted following the recent trial and conviction of Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs in St. George. Steed was charged with rape the day after Jeffs was convicted of being an accomplice to rape for his role in conducting a 2001 spiritual marriage between then 19-year-old Steed and a 14-year-old cousin, Elissa Wall. Jeffs was found guilty of two counts of rape as an accomplice and is to be sentenced on Tuesday. He could receive up to life in prison on each count. In the motion for a change of venue, Steed's Salt Lake City attorneys, Jim Bradshaw and Mark Moffat, note that the state chose to charge Jeffs as an accomplice to rape and pursue his conviction before charging Steed with a crime. "Since the prosecution strategically decided they would conduct the high-profile trial of the accomplice before leveling charges at Mr. Steed, they now must live with the consequences of their plan, including the reality that empaneling a fair and impartial jury in southern Utah is an impossibility," according to the motion filed Wednesday in 5th District Court. In a separate motion, Steed's attorneys ask 5th District Court Judge G. Rand Beacham to dismiss the case, arguing the state's calculated delay in charging Steed violated his state and federal constitutional rights to a fair trial. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Teen bride's ex-husband wants charges dismissed | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The Associated Press Provo Daily Herald Originally published Friday, November 16, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ST. GEORGE -- A man whose ceremonial marriage to a 14-year-old was at the center of a polygamous-sect leader's trial is asking a judge to dismiss a rape charge. Attorneys for Allen Steed noted the charge was filed more than six years after Steed married his teen bride, but shortly after Steed testified in Warren Jeffs' trial for accomplice rape. "In that time, evidence has been lost, critical witnesses have died and the memories of others have faded," Jim Bradshaw wrote in a document filed Thursday in 5th District Court in Washington County. Steed was 19 when he and cousin Elissa Wall were united in a ceremony at a Nevada motel in 2001. They were members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a sect on the Arizona-Utah border that practices polygamy and arranged marriage. Steed, now 26, is accused of having sex with the girl against her will. He was charged on Sept. 26 -- a day after Jeffs, the FLDS leader, was convicted of being an accomplice to rape in the couple's relationship. Prosecutors claimed Jeffs used his iron-fisted influence to force Wall to marry and submit to Steed. Jeffs will be sentenced Tuesday. Steed, still an FLDS member, freely testified during the church leader's trial. He said he never forced Wall to have sex. In his filing, Bradshaw accused prosecutors of a lack of "fair play and decency" in springing a rape charge on Steed after the Jeffs trial. "The timing of this prosecution creates an appearance that the case was filed as retaliation for Mr. Steed's support of Mr. Jeffs," Bradshaw said. "It further sends a message to others in the FLDS community regarding the consequences of providing such support." Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Fundamentalist case blurs line between abuser and abused | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Warren Jeffs was a tyrant but those carrying out orders were also victims | |||||||||||||||||||||
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By Daphne Bramham Vancouver Sun Originally published Friday, November 23, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| On a different battlefield, Allen Steed might simply and coldly be referred to as collateral damage. Steed is the reason that Warren Jeffs, the prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, may spend the rest of his life in prison. Jeffs, 51, was sentenced earlier this week on two counts of being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl to the maximum penalty -- two terms of five years to life in prison, to be served consecutively. (It is up to the Utah Board of Pardon and Parole to determine when, if ever, to release the leader of the largest polygamous group in North America, including an estimated 600 followers in Bountiful, B.C.) Steed is the alleged rapist. It's important to emphasize alleged, since the 27-year-old truck driver has yet to go to trial. He wasn't even charged until after a jury found Jeffs guilty. But what is uncontestable is that Jeffs could not have been found guilty unless the jury believed that Allen Steed had committed two rapes. Because of that, Steed's lawyers say their client can never get a fair trial. They want Steed's rape charge dropped. His lawyers raise troubling questions about how Utah got Jeffs's conviction. They made public a secret and extraordinary agreement between prosecutors and the victim, Elissa Wall, that precluded police from even interviewing Steed before Jeffs was charged. The first time Steed told his side of the story was at Jeffs's trial in September, when he testified that he never raped Elissa Wall, his 14-year-old "celestial" bride and first cousin. Before he testified, Steed acknowledged that his testimony might be used against him in a subsequent trial. But what choice did he have? Steed believes Jeffs speaks for God, so Jeffs's request that he testify didn't just come from the prophet, it came from God. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||
| FLDS man wants trial moved | |||||||||||||||||||||
| He was charged with rape after testifying for Warren Jeffs. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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By Nancy Perkins Deseret Morning News Originally published Thursday, December 6, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ST. GEORGE — Washington County prosecutors argue that an FLDS man charged with raping his young bride can get a fair trial in the same county that found polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs, who performed the couple's marriage, guilty of rape as an accomplice. Allen Glade Steed was charged with first-degree felony rape the day after he testified on behalf of Jeffs, who was sentenced Nov. 20 to two consecutive terms of five years to life in prison at the Utah State Prison. Jeffs, 52, was until his resignation, the leader of the Fundamentalist LDS Church, which practices polygamy and placement marriage. It was an arranged marriage that brought Steed, then 19, and his cousin, then 14-year-old Elissa Wall, together in a marriage that proved to be an unhappy one for both, according to testimony offered at Jeffs' trial. Steed's attorneys, Jim Bradshaw and Mark Moffat, subsequently asked 5th District Judge G. Rand Beacham to dismiss the case, arguing the state's calculated delay in charging Steed violated his state and federal constitutional rights to a fair trial. A change of venue was also requested. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Judge delays hearing in FLDS child-bride rape case | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Attorney for Steed says he's awaiting response to motions | |||||||||||||||||||||
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By Nancy Perkins Deseret Morning News Originally published Sunday, December 23, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ST. GEORGE — A 5th District Court judge agreed to postpone a hearing scheduled Thursday in St. George in the upcoming trial of an FLDS man accused of raping his ex-wife. Allen Glade Steed was charged with a single count of rape, a first-degree felony, one day after he testified on behalf of Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs. Steed was 19 years old when he was informed he would marry his 14-year-old cousin, Elissa Wall. Arranged or placement marriages are part of the FLDS culture. Faithful FLDS members practice plural marriage as a central tenant of their faith. It was Wall's testimony that jurors said they found most convincing when they convicted Jeffs of two counts of rape as an accomplice for his role in marrying the couple and counseling them to multiply and replenish the earth. Wall testified she did not want to marry Steed and that he raped her about three weeks after the wedding ceremony took place at a Nevada motel. Steed's testimony centered on his belief that he tried hard to be a good husband to Wall and that he never forced himself on his young bride. Steed's Salt Lake attorney, Jim Bradshaw, said a new court date would likely be scheduled in mid-March. Bradshaw said he is still waiting for Washington County prosecutors to respond to his motions for discovery. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Read the Motion for Change of Venue regarding Allen Steed filed on November 19, 2007 | |
| Read the First Supplemental Request for Discovery regarding Allen Steed filed on November 15, 2007 | |
| Read the Charging Documents for Allen Glade Steed filed on September 26, 2007 | |
| See the photos of Elissa Wall and Allen Steed after their "marriage" from the trials's Evidence - 1 Black Photo Binder released September 25, 2007 | |
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