| Jeffs pleads not guilty to Ariz. charges | |
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By Jim Seckler Mohave Daily News | |
KINGMAN - Not since Timothy McVeigh roamed Kingman have the eyes of the world focused on Mohave County. But that changed on Wednesday, when, newly arrived from a Utah prison, Warren Steed Jeffs, 52, the convicted leader of a polygamist sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Colorado City, pleaded innocent to 10 felony charges. Jeffs, looking pale and extremely thin, was arraigned before Superior Court Judge Steven Conn on charges in two 2007 cases involving two underage victims. Conn previously granted Jeffs' request not to allow cameras in his courtroom. Jeffs was transferred by van from the jail across the street to the back of the courthouse under tight security. Television crews and media photographers had little chance to view Jeffs, who wore the standard orange jumpsuit. Surrounded by officers in Conn's courtroom, Jeffs spoke only one word, acknowledging that his name was spelled correctly before his Tucson attorney, Michael Piccarreta, entered a not guilty plea on the charges. Conn, who ordered Jeffs held without bond, set Jeffs' next hearing for March 19. The first 2007 case charges him with two counts of incest and two counts of sexual conduct with a minor involving an underage girl between May 1 and June 30, 2002, and between Aug. 15 and Sept. 15, 2002. The second case charges him with two counts of incest and two counts of sexual conduct with a minor involving another underage girl on Aug. 31, 2003, and in September 2003. Jeffs allegedly arranged marriages between older men and their teenage relatives. He is also charged with sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor in a 2005 case, which allegedly occurred between January and June 2002 in Colorado City. Conn said Jeffs faces up to three years and nine months in prison for each of the incest charges if he is tried and convicted. For the other charges, he faces a maximum of two years in prison if convicted. Jeffs could also be eligible for probation. However, Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith said he will see if he can prove Jeffs has historical priors from his conviction on the Utah charges. Historical priors would increase the prison sentences and eliminate the possibility of probation. Piccarreta is expected to file a motion to move the trial to another county because of the publicity of the case. Jeffs was convicted last year in St. George, Utah, of two counts of rape as an accomplice and was sentenced to consecutive five-year prison terms for each count. Jeffs is kept in a solitary cell at the county jail and will be locked down 23 hours a day and only allowed out one hour each day to exercise, meet with attorneys or have visitors. He was recently hospitalized while being housed in the Utah prison for being on a self-imposed fast. | |
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MohaveDailyNews.com Originally published Wednesday, February 27, 2008 | |
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