Husband in polygamist trial charged with rape
 
Reuters
Reuters South Africa - Johannesburg, South Africa
 
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The former husband of the woman at the centre of a Utah polygamist leader's trial has been charged with rape, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Allen Steed, 26, was charged by Washington County, Utah prosecutors the day after the leader of a breakaway Mormon polygamy sect was found guilty of being an accomplice to rape for arranging a marriage between Steed and his then-14-year-old cousin.

Warren Jeffs, 51, the self-described "prophet" of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, was convicted on Tuesday on two counts of being an accomplice to the rape of the teen bride.

Elissa Wall, the victim in the case who is now 21 and remarried, on Tuesday spoke to the media in St. George, Utah, where Jeffs' trial took place and said she testified against him to bring out the truth.

"This trial has not been about religion or a vendetta. It is simply about child abuse and preventing further abuse," she said.

Steed, who was 19 at the time of the 2001 arranged marriage, was not previously charged with rape. He testified at the Jeffs trial for the defense, denying he had forced his young wife to have sex with him and said he felt "really bad" about the end of their relationship.

Wall testified in Jeffs' trial that sexual relations with Steed took place without her consent, Utah police said in an affidavit attached to Steed's charging document.

Jeffs faces five years to life in prison for each of the two felony charges. He will be sentenced on November 20.

The Jeffs trial riveted Utah, the western state with a majority Mormon population, many of whom consider polygamy a thorn in the side of their faith.

A part of the early tenets of the Mormon religion, polygamy was rejected in 1890 as Utah sought statehood. The 7,500-member FLDS -- the largest organized polygamist group in Utah -- is not associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are called Mormons.

Polygamy, which is illegal in the United States, was not a legal issue in the Jeffs trial.
 
africa.reuters.com
Originally published Wednesday, September 26, 2007
 
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