Jeffs to face judge today in Kingman
 
By David Bell
Today's News-Herald - Lake Havasu City, Arizona
 
KINGMAN — Warren Jeffs, leader and self-proclaimed prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was booked into the local jail Tuesday. He is accused of orchestrating and assisting the sexual assault of teenaged girls.

"Mr. Jeffs was transported and booked into Mohave County Jail in Kingman where he is housed in his own cell. He will be in the cell 23 hours a day," said Sheriff’s spokesperson Trish Carter.

Jeffs will be allowed outside for one hour each day for exercise and fresh air, and he will be given access to meet with his attorney and visitors.

Jeffs was booked on six counts of sexual conduct with a minor, a class-6 felony, four counts of incest, a class-4 felony, and one count of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor, a class-6 felony.

Jeffs will make his initial appearance in Mohave County Superior Court today at 8:15 a.m. in front of Judge Steven Conn.

Jeffs had faced more charges when he became a fugitive in 2005. However, Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith said two of the cases were dismissed.

"One of the cases was dismissed because the victim in the case was involved in an alleged blackmail attempt involving the co-defendant of Mr. Jeffs. The case against that co-defendant was also dismissed," Smith said in a press release. "The other case was dismissed because the State cannot prove that any of the conduct that occurred involving the co-defendant occurred in Mohave County. The case against that co-defendant was also previously dismissed quite some time ago."

Smith said of the three remaining cases, two are likely to go to trial. The final case is dependent on the desires of the victim who has previously refused to testify against a co-defendant and "may very well be unwilling to do so again."

Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson, R-Dist. 3, said even with the dismissals, he’s glad to see the coming trial.

"It’s good to see something is finally moving ahead," he said.

Johnson has fought to stop the FLDS-sanctioned practice of forced plural marriage since taking office more than 12 years ago.

"We started against the father Rulon (Jeffs) and now finally we’ve got the son," Johnson said.

Jeffs’ trial will start two and a half years after charges were first filed against him. It was after the charges were filed that Jeffs went into hiding, eventually being named to the FBI’s Most Wanted list.

Jeffs was arrested in August 2006 and convicted last year in Utah of rape as an accomplice in the arranged marriage of a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.

He was sentenced in Utah to serve two consecutive terms of five-years-to-life in prison there. Smith previously said if Jeffs is found guilty, he expects Jeffs to serve the Utah sentence before serving any sentence imposed in Arizona.

Jeffs, 52, will enter a not-guilty plea to the Mohave County charges at today’s hearing, said defense attorney Mike Piccarreta.

Piccarreta plans to ask the judge for a change of venue, saying Kingman is too close to St. George, Utah, the site of Jeffs’ first trial, for him to get a fair trial here.

"If people want to give Mr. Jeffs a fair trial, we have to hold it in an area as far away as practical from the other case in Utah,” he said. “And that case to me is an example of what occurs when you don’t take the case away from people that have lots of knowledge and local publicity that has tainted the jury panel."

Jeffs was named president, or prophet, of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 2002, following the death of his father Rulon. Members of the church live in the twin border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City.

The FLDS church teaches that a man cannot reach heaven without having at least three church-sanctioned wives and that a woman cannot reach heaven unless she is married to a man with at least three wives.

The celestial (plural) marriages were ordered by Jeffs and are performed in the church. However, celestial marriages are not recognized by the state of Arizona, which only allows a single marriage by law. That means every wife after the first who bears children is considered a single mother by the state and eligible for medical, food and welfare benefits.

In addition to the alleged financial abuses, women have reported being assigned a marriage as young as 14, their children removed from them if they did not obey their husbands or church leaders explicitly, beaten by wives higher in the pecking order in their households and assigned to new husbands if their current husband dies or is excommunicated from the church.

Johnson is testifying before the state Legislature, seeking a new law that will open Child Protective Services records to the public.

"Polygamists use CPS to hide behind. That’s not protecting the abused. It’s protecting the abusers," said Johnson. "It’s a good first step. Make the records open to the public, the court hearings open to the public and remove the cloak of secrecy."

The mainstream Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, renounced polygamy more than a century ago. It excommunicates members who engage in the practice and disavows any connection with the FLDS church.

The Associated Press contributed to this story. You may contact the reporter at dbell@havasunews.com.
 
Havasunews.com
Originally published Tuesday, February 26, 2008
 
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