Jeffs transport still pending
 
The Associated Press
KVOA News 4 - Tucson
 
HILDALE, Utah -- While authorities continue to work out extradition logistics that will bring polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs to Utah to stand trial on charges of rape by accomplice, a former Jeffs follower says there's a possibility the key witness could fold on the stand.

Former member Ross Chatwin said he expects Jeffs to play the role of a "sympathetic Jesus" or spiritual martyr in court. That pressure might be too great for a young woman once part of the insular and obedient sect, Chatwin said.

"He'll say things like "I'll forgive you," and make her see that she's going to be the Judas here if she does this," said Chatwin. "I don't think that she's going to make it."

Chatwin successfully fought Jeffs' Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for the right to stay in his home in 2004. Almost all property in the twin towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale are held by a church trust.

Jeffs, 50, is charged with two first-degree felony counts of rape by accomplice, accused of arranging a "spiritual marriage" between a girl, then between the ages of 14 and 18, and an older man sometime in the last four years.

Details of the case remain secret. The name of the alleged victim, who is a longtime resident of Hildale, has not been released, nor is the name of her husband public.

Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap said Thursday the alleged victim is steadfast about testifying.

No hearing dates have been set in the case. Jeffs was arrested Monday north of Las Vegas in a traffic stop. On Thursday he waived extradition to Utah.

Both Arizona and Utah have filed charges against Jeffs in the past 18 months, but Utah's criminal counts carry the stiffer penalty of up to life in prison.

It's still not clear if Jeffs has - or will - secure an attorney.

In additional to the criminal charges, Jeffs has been named in multiple civil lawsuits dating back to 2004, but he has failed to defend himself, or even appear in court, in any of those cases, choosing instead to go into hiding. None of those cases have gone forward in his absence, but remain pending.

The Washington County sheriff's office has 30 days to complete Jeffs' transfer from Nevada to the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, Utah. Jeffs remained in the Clark County Detention Facility on Friday night, a jail booking officer said.

The sheriff's office has no plans to release details about how and when Jeffs will be moved, Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said.

Chatwin fears the case could go south because of pressure from friends and family inside the 10,000-member FLDS community. That's what happened on Tuesday in Kingman, Ariz., when Candi Shapley, 20, refused to answer questions from prosecutors in the case filed against her husband, Randolph Barlow, 33, Chatwin said.

Barlow is one of eight FLDS men charged in Arizona with felony crimes for alleged sexual activity with underage girls they took as "spiritual wives." He is charged with two counts of sexual assault for his spiritual marriage to Shapley when she was 16.

Once considered a willing witness, Shapley balked in court after pressure from her mother and others. A judge found Shapley in contempt of court and the case is now stalled.

"Her mother and father, the people she loves the most are going to be giving her pressure," Chatwin said, adding he thinks Jeffs will act as if he's a victim. "He'll never confess but he will say, 'I'm sorry and I didn't know.'"

"That's about the way he played it with me," said Gary Engels, a Mohave County, Ariz., sheriff's office investigator who built the Arizona case against both Jeffs and Barlow from his office in Colorado City.

Engels met with Jeffs in the Las Vegas jail after Thursday's extradition hearing.

"All I ever had was a picture, he's like a phantom. I needed to put a human being with the picture," Engels said. "He was a thin, meek person. He speaks softly, not the least bit imposing as a figure."

But a person considered a powerful prophet by followers, who are known for their blind obedience, loyalty and an almost desperate commitment to maintaining their way of life, including plural marriages between young girls and old men.

Engels was frustrated by Shapley's collapse as a witness and said he hopes that doesn't happen when Jeffs' case hits the Utah court.

Once Jeffs is booked into jail in Utah, he'll make a first appearance in 5th District Court, likely via a closed-circuit television feed from the jail, which is about 15 miles north of the St. George courthouse.

Belnap successfully secured a temporary revocation of the $500,000 bail posted for Jeffs on Thursday, but Jeffs will have a chance to fight that. That issue could be tacked onto his initial court hearing, which could occur as early as next week.
 
KVOA.com
Originally published September 1, 2006
 
Back