Mohave County dismisses charges against polygamy leader
 
By DAVID BELL
Today's News-Herald - Lake Havasu City, Arizona
 
The Mohave County Attorney’s Office has dropped all charges against Warren Jeffs, the leader of a polygamous religious sect who spent more than two years in a Mohave County jail awaiting trial.

Superior Court Judge Steven Conn granted the motion requested by Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith to dismiss the charges against Jeffs Wednesday.

In the filing, Smith said, "Some of the state’s witnesses no longer desire to testify in the State of Arizona" and that Texas has a stronger case against Jeffs.

In Texas, Jeffs is facing charges of sexual assault on a minor and bigamy. In his filing, Smith says that Texas has initiated extradition. The charges are the result of a 2008 raid on a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints compound in Eldorado, Texas.

Smith’s filing also stated that Jeffs "has already served more jail time in Arizona than he would receive even if he was convicted of all crimes charged."

In February, 2008, Jeffs was booked into Mohave County Jail 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.

Previously, the County Attorney’s Office dropped all charges except for the remaining two counts of sexual conduct of a minor that were dropped Wednesday.

Jeffs was previously convicted in Washington County, Utah, in 2007 on charges 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.

Today’s News-Herald’s attempts to contact Smith via telephone and e-mail Wednesday were not successful.

Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson, R-Dist. 3, who has campaigned for more than a decade for reform in the polygamous FLDS communities of Colorado City, Ariz. and Hildale, Utah, said the dropping of charges in Arizona is likely to put the county in a bad light.

"I’m embarrassed for the county. It looks like once again we dropped the ball," Johnson said. "While I don’t have the information Matt has, to compare to the reasons why he decided to drop the charges, the taxpayers did pay for the incarceration when it was a Utah’s responsibility."

Smith’s filing stated "It would be impractical and unnecessary to spend taxpayer money on this Defendant under the above mentioned circumstances." The County Attorney’s costs to prosecute were not available but Mohave County Jail reports about $120,000 was spent incarcerating Jeffs since 2008, which includes the $58 per day housing cost and special medical care provided to Jeffs during the incarceration.

Jeffs conducted a pair of hunger strikes in 2009 while waiting for trial and Mohave County Jail staff had to force–feed the prisoner to keep him alive.

"I believed, and the County Attorney believed at time, that we had grounds to file charges. I’m curious why the victims are saying they won’t testify here but victims will in Texas," Johnson said.

Jeffs, 54, was named president, or prophet, of the FLDS Church in 2002, following the death of his father Rulon. 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 church leader and self-proclaimed prophet 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.

The FLDS broke away from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early 20th Century when the LDS Church denounced polygamy. The LDS Church does not recognize the FLDS as a legitimate Mormon denomination.

You may contact the reporter at dbell@havasunews.com.
 
HavasuNews.com
Originally published Wednesday, June 9, 2010
 
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