Trial date set for FLDS leader
 Jeffs faces 2 charges of sexual conduct with a minor
 
Dave Hawkins Special to the Standard-Times
San Angelo Standard-Times
Warren Jeffs

Jeffs will go on trial Nov. 2 for charges related to a marriage he arranged for a 16-year-old girl.

KINGMAN, Ariz. — A Nov. 2 trial date has been set for Warren Jeffs in Kingman, Ariz., more than 2½ years after the polygamous church sect prophet was booked into the Mohave County Jail in February 2008.

That the leader of the Arizona-Utah border-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) arranged spiritual unions that allowed male adults to have illegal sexual relations with underage girls is the central premise of the prosecution of Jeffs in three states. Jeffs, 54, awaits trial for crimes allegedly arising from the FLDS owned and operated Yearning for Zion Ranch outside Eldorado, and he’s already serving two consecutive five-year-to-life prison terms for convictions in Utah.

In Arizona, Jeffs is charged with two counts of sexual conduct with a minor for alleged sexual relations arising from the union of a 16-year-old girl and her 51-year-old cousin. That trial will start in November.

The second trial won’t be scheduled until after the first is completed. Jeffs is charged with two counts of sexual conduct with a minor for alleged sexual relations arising from the union of a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.

A schedule of dates involving pretrial motions, responses and replies and the Nov. 2 trial date were established during a Friday hearing in Kingman. Jeffs’ attorney Mike Piccarreta indicated that motions for case dismissal and change of venue are among those contemplated by the defense team.

Prosecutor Matt Smith said he also planned to file "a ton of motions" before trial.

"That’s encouraging" quipped Mohave County Superior Court Judge Steve Conn as he peered over the large case file pile rising from his working area on the bench. "I may have to send for more file folders."

More than a dozen followers attended the Friday hearing in Kingman in support of Jeffs. The male members of that contingent and Jeffs’ defense lawyers were spotted chatting in a downtown coffeehouse following the hearing.
 
gosanangelo.com
Originally published March 27, 2010
 
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