Hearing for Jeffs gets moved up
 
By Suzanne Adams
Kingman Daily Miner
Warren Jeffs

Warren Jeffs

KINGMAN - The pace of the Warren Jeffs case may be picking up. Judge Steven Conn recently issued a court order moving an omnibus hearing in the case from 8 a.m. on May 19 to 1:30 p.m. on May 16.

Jeffs is facing four counts of sexual conduct with a minor and four counts of incest in two separate cases.

Conn dismissed with prejudice a 2005 case involving Jeffs after the victim, Candi Shapley, refused to testify.

The court is still considering a motion made by Jeff's attorneys to dismiss the four counts of incest.

According to court records, his attorneys are arguing that Arizona Revised Statutes require that both the victim and the suspect involved in an incest case be 18 years old or older. The victims were both under the age of 18 when the alleged incidents occurred.

Jeffs' attorneys also argue that the victims and Jeffs are not related closely enough to meet the state requirement for incest. Arizona Revised Statutes specifically prohibits the marriage of half- blood brothers and sisters and the marriage of first cousins, but it does not specifically prohibit the marriage of half-blood cousins.

According to the attorneys' argument, Jeffs and the victims are half-blood cousins and do not meet the ARS requirements for incest.

Jeffs is currently being held in the Mohave County Jail on the charges.

Jeffs was transported to Kingman in February following a November conviction in Utah on rape as an accomplice charges for his involvement in an arranged marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin in Washington County, Utah.
 
KingmanDailyMiner.com
Originally published Thursday, May 8, 2008
 
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