Saguaro
11-20-2007, 06:25 PM
CNN) -- A Utah judge Tuesday sentenced polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs to consecutive prison terms of five years to life for his conviction on two counts of being an accomplice to rape, a court spokeswoman said.
The consecutive sentences mean he will serve at least 10 years. The exact amount of time he serves will be determined by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole in the future.
He was also fined $18,500 for each count.
Jeffs, 51, was convicted in September. He was accused of using his religious influence over his followers to coerce a 14-year-old girl into marriage to her 19-year-old cousin.
Jeffs is the "prophet" of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS.
The girl, Elissa Wall, now 21, testified that she repeatedly told Jeffs at the time that she did not want to be married and was uncomfortable with sexual advances from her husband, Allen Steed.
Jeffs advised her to pray and to submit to her husband, learn to love him and bear his children -- or risk losing her "eternal salvation," the woman testified.
Wall's attorneys made her name public at the end of the trial, with her consent. She is married to someone else and has left the FLDS.
She and Steed exchanged vows in 2001 before Jeffs at a motel near Las Vegas, Nevada, where many arranged FLDS marriages take place. He gave them the usual blessing.
"Warren Jeffs told them to go forward and multiply and replenish the Earth, and that is why that man is an accomplice to rape," prosecutor Brock Belnap said during the trial.
Prosecutors called three witnesses during their case, while the defense called nearly a dozen, including the spurned husband and other FLDS couples who were happy in their arranged marriages. Testimony lasted just under two weeks. See timeline of events leading up to sentencing »
Two weeks ago, the trial judge unsealed court documents indicating that Jeffs tried to hang himself while he was awaiting trial in January.
The documents, released by Fifth District Judge James Shumate at the request of the media, also indicated that Jeffs confessed to "immorality" with a "sister" and a daughter more than 30 years ago.
Jeffs' attorneys said in a motion opposing the unsealing of the statements that their client recanted them the following month. Defense attorneys claim Jeffs' medical condition influenced his state of mind when he made those statements.
Members of the FLDS, based in the side-by-side border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, openly practice polygamy. Jeffs, who is considered a prophet by his followers, has led the 10,000-member sect since his father's death in 2002. The FLDS is not affiliated with the mainstream Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He has drawn critical attention to the FLDS by allegedly arranging marriages to girls as young as 13, exiling male teens and young men to reduce competition for brides, and reassigning the wives and children of excommunicated male followers.
Jeffs, who was once on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, was captured in Nevada in August 2006 after two years on the run. In addition to the Utah charges, he also faces multiple counts in Arizona of being an accomplice to incest and sex with minors.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/11/20/jeffs.sentence/index.html
The consecutive sentences mean he will serve at least 10 years. The exact amount of time he serves will be determined by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole in the future.
He was also fined $18,500 for each count.
Jeffs, 51, was convicted in September. He was accused of using his religious influence over his followers to coerce a 14-year-old girl into marriage to her 19-year-old cousin.
Jeffs is the "prophet" of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS.
The girl, Elissa Wall, now 21, testified that she repeatedly told Jeffs at the time that she did not want to be married and was uncomfortable with sexual advances from her husband, Allen Steed.
Jeffs advised her to pray and to submit to her husband, learn to love him and bear his children -- or risk losing her "eternal salvation," the woman testified.
Wall's attorneys made her name public at the end of the trial, with her consent. She is married to someone else and has left the FLDS.
She and Steed exchanged vows in 2001 before Jeffs at a motel near Las Vegas, Nevada, where many arranged FLDS marriages take place. He gave them the usual blessing.
"Warren Jeffs told them to go forward and multiply and replenish the Earth, and that is why that man is an accomplice to rape," prosecutor Brock Belnap said during the trial.
Prosecutors called three witnesses during their case, while the defense called nearly a dozen, including the spurned husband and other FLDS couples who were happy in their arranged marriages. Testimony lasted just under two weeks. See timeline of events leading up to sentencing »
Two weeks ago, the trial judge unsealed court documents indicating that Jeffs tried to hang himself while he was awaiting trial in January.
The documents, released by Fifth District Judge James Shumate at the request of the media, also indicated that Jeffs confessed to "immorality" with a "sister" and a daughter more than 30 years ago.
Jeffs' attorneys said in a motion opposing the unsealing of the statements that their client recanted them the following month. Defense attorneys claim Jeffs' medical condition influenced his state of mind when he made those statements.
Members of the FLDS, based in the side-by-side border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, openly practice polygamy. Jeffs, who is considered a prophet by his followers, has led the 10,000-member sect since his father's death in 2002. The FLDS is not affiliated with the mainstream Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He has drawn critical attention to the FLDS by allegedly arranging marriages to girls as young as 13, exiling male teens and young men to reduce competition for brides, and reassigning the wives and children of excommunicated male followers.
Jeffs, who was once on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, was captured in Nevada in August 2006 after two years on the run. In addition to the Utah charges, he also faces multiple counts in Arizona of being an accomplice to incest and sex with minors.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/11/20/jeffs.sentence/index.html