Judge concerned for Jeffs' medical privacy
 
By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News
 
ST. GEORGE — A judge here is expressing concern for the medical privacy of Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs.

In his response to a request by the news media to intervene in the criminal case against Jeffs, 5th District Court Judge James Shumate said he wanted attorneys for the Deseret Morning News and other news media outlets to address medical privacy issues.

"The Court has some concerns about the effect granting proposed media intervenors' motion may have on Mr. Jeffs' federal medical privacy rights under HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996," Shumate wrote in an order released Monday.

Lawyers for the news media, the Washington County Attorney's Office and Jeffs' defense team must respond by May 11.

The Deseret Morning News, the Associated Press, the Salt Lake Tribune, the Spectrum of St. George, KSL-TV, the Utah Media Coalition and the Utah Headliners Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists are challenging a decision by the judge to seal a petition filed by Jeffs' defense attorneys earlier this month.

The petition came after Jeffs' last court appearance, where he appeared skeletal and lethargic. At one point, the FLDS leader nodded off and drooled in open court.

It also comes after a series of Deseret Morning News reports that Jeffs has apparently abdicated his role as "prophet" of the FLDS faith. Law enforcement sources say Jeffs said as much in a jailhouse conversation with his brother and in a note he tried to hand to the judge as his court hearing was wrapped up.

Jeffs, 51, is facing criminal charges here of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. He is accused of performing a child-bride marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her older cousin.

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Tuesday, April 24, 2007
 
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