Jeffs' charge, trial, sentence "unjust" says lawyer
 
By Daphne Bramham, CanWest News Service
Vancouver Sun
Originally published Tuesday, November 20, 2007

 
ST. GEORGE, Utah - Warren Jeffs, the leader of the largest polygamous group in North America, was sentenced Tuesday to consecutive terms of five years to life for the role he played as an accomplice to two rapes of a 14-year-old girl.

"Warren Jeffs belongs in prison for abusing his authority and being an accomplice to rape," Utah's Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said in a statement following the sentencing.

"A jury found Jeffs guilty and Judge Shumate made the appropriate decision to protect other people from being harmed. Unfortunately Jeffs' attorneys and some of his followers continue to claim that this convicted felon is being punished for his beliefs. Jeffs can believe whatever he wants but he is going to prison for his actions, which led to the rape of a child," Shurtleff said.

Jeffs was also ordered to pay a total of $37,000 in fines, $1,000 for transporting him from Nevada where he was arrested to Utah and $50 in security fees.

The prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was convicted in September.

Exactly how much time Jeffs will serve is up to the Utah Board of Pardons. Jeffs will be transferred as soon as possible from the Purgatory Correction Facility where he has been staying since his arrest in August 2006 to a state prison.

There, he will be evaluated and given a plan for his rehabilitation. Three years into his sentence, Jeffs will go before the Board of Pardons for a full hearing after which, it will be determined how much longer he must serve and whether he must remain in jail or can be paroled.

Before sentencing the gaunt and seemingly disoriented 51-year-old prophet, Judge James Shumate noted that when Jeffs decided to force a 14-year-old girl into a marriage with her 19-year-old first cousin he broke a number of state laws.

He noted that in Utah it is illegal for anyone age 14 to marry without the court's intervention; for first cousins to marry unless they are past the age of procreation; and to marry without a licence, and there was no licence in this case.

The victim, Elissa Wall who is now 21, spoke briefly prior to sentencing.

"I've thought about this day for a very long time and how it would go," she said in a quavering voice. "I am so grateful to the justice system, the jury and the judge to have seen the truth and to have believed in me. I have faith in your honour and in the justice system to give Warren Jeffs the sentence he deserves."

Shumate then told Wall he had both a statutory and moral duty to ask whether she was seeking restitution, which by law would have been a maximum of $5,000.

"I cannot help but be aware that is not enough," he said. "I know that whatever I do today will not make it better. You are living under a life sentence and your courage to carry on is laudable."

Wall refused his offer, saying "I do not want it and I would not accept it from him."

Wall has a civil lawsuit pending against Jeffs, the FLDS and the church's United Effort Plan trust, in which she is seeking more than a million dollars in damages. She is also expected to testify against Jeffs in Arizona where Jeffs has been indicted by a grand jury on five counts of sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor.

"I don't know how long it will take to get him to Arizona, but I believe the defendant and his attorneys want him to appear in Arizona as soon as possible after he is sentenced," Mohave County, Ariz., Attorney Matthew Smith said Tuesday.

After Jeffs's attorneys failed in their attempt Tuesday to have the jury's decision thrown out or "arrested," Walter Bugden urged Shumate to impose the lightest sentence possible.

He argued that Jeffs's conduct was "not the most egregious" and was not comparable to a "jump-out-of-the-bushes rapist." Instead, he said the judge was punishing Jeffs for conducting a placement marriage.

However, under questioning from Shumate, Bugden did agree that "maybe Mr. Jeffs goofed up" when he refused to release Wall from the marriage after she told him that her husband, Allen Steed, was doing things that made her uncomfortable. Instead, Jeffs told her to repent and give herself to Steed "mind, body and soul."

Outside the court, Bugden called everything from the charge to the arrest to the trial's outcome "unfair" and "unjust." He said he and Jeffs's other attorneys will be doing everything necessary to have the result overturned.

"Had he been charged with performing an illegal marriage, that would have been completely different," Bugden told reporters. "But Mr. Jeffs did not intentionally or recklessly encourage rape."

As a result of the trial, Bugden suggested that any cleric - whether FLDS prophet, rabbi or minister - who performs a religious marriage could be found guilty if a member of their congregation commits a rape.

Anti-polygamy activist Flora Jessop said as a result of the sentence, "thousands of children will be sleeping safer tonight." However, she said it won't stop others in the FLDS from doing exactly the same things.

dbramham@png.canwest.com
 
canada.com
Originally published Tuesday, November 20, 2007
 
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