Jeffs' health woes may affect case
 
By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News
Warren Jeffs

Warren Jeffs

Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs' recent health troubles are apparently prompting new concerns in the criminal case against him.

Prosecution and defense lawyers were involved in a hearing by phone on Friday with 5th District Court Judge James Shumate. A court docket said the hearing requested "confidential and privileged physician contact." Court clerks could not say who made the motion, and a transcript of the hearing was filed under seal.

Jeffs' attorneys did not return a phone call seeking comment. The Washington County Attorney's Office also did not return calls on Monday.

The FLDS leader was taken to Dixie Regional Medical Center in January after medical staff at the Purgatory Jail noticed him exhibiting "problems," sheriff's deputies said. At the hospital, he underwent tests and was cleared to return to the jail a few hours later.

Washington County Sheriff's deputies would not say if Jeffs is exhibiting any more medical problems.

"I can't comment at all on any inmate's physical or mental conditions," Washington County Sheriff's Lt. Jake Adams said Monday.

Jeffs remains isolated in a cell 23 hours a day. For one hour, he is allowed out to make phone calls and receive visitors. In November, the Deseret Morning News reported that Jeffs was holding "church" from jail, calling groups of his faithful followers who sing to him. He offers sermons.

According to jail logs released by the Washington County Sheriff's Office, Jeffs' most recent visitors include his attorneys and a handful of faithful followers, including his brother Nephi Jeffs. The logs were provided to the Deseret Morning News after a request under the Government Records Access and Management Act.

In the FLDS towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., former followers are wondering if Jeffs' isolation in jail is beginning to affect the man known as "prophet."

"If he thinks at all of what he's done, it's bound to tear him up to where he says, 'Good hell, what have I done?"' said ex-FLDS member Richard Holm.

Jeffs is scheduled to go on trial in April on charges of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. He is accused of forcing a 14-year-old girl into a marriage with her 19-year-old cousin. Across the border in Arizona, Jeffs is facing more criminal charges accusing him of performing more child bride marriages. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah has also said Jeffs is the subject of an "ongoing criminal investigation."

Meanwhile, Jeffs' financial troubles are about to get worse. Lawyers for the court-appointed special fiduciary of the FLDS Church's financial arm are asking a judge for a default judgment against the polygamist leader.

"It's more than just him," said Jeffrey L. Shields, an attorney for the United Effort Plan Trust. "It's the church and all the trustees and the Corporation of the Presiding Bishopric."

Shields said he plans to ask for more than $1 million in damages.

In an application for judgment filed in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court, court-appointed special fiduciary Bruce Wisan argues that no one — not Jeffs, the FLDS Church or any of the ex-UEP trustees — has responded to a lawsuit he filed accusing them of fleecing the $110 million financial empire.

A hearing on that has been scheduled for March 1.

"The Trust has suffered, and continues to suffer, substantial damages as a result of the actions of the Defendants," Shields wrote. "The Trust is entitled to recompense for all damages caused by the Defendants."

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Tuesday, February 13, 2007
 
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