Polygamist Religious Leader Fires His Lawyers
 
All Things Considered
National Public Radio
 
Michele Norris speaks with NPR's Wade Goodwyn, who is in San Angelo, Texas, for the opening of the trial of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs. Just as opening statements were about to begin, Jeffs fired his lawyer, and he told the judge he wants to defend himself.

ROBERT SIEGEL, host: To San Angelo, Texas now, where it's been a dramatic day in the trial of Warren Jeffs. He's the leader of the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And he's accused of sexually assaulting two girls, one was just 12 years old at the time. Today, as opening arguments were scheduled to begin, Jeffs abruptly fired his defense team. He told the judge he wants to represent himself.

NPR's Wade Goodwyn joins us now from San Angelo. And, Wade, tell us more about what happened today. It sounds like Jeffs' decisions took the court and everyone else by surprise.

WADE GOODWYN: I think it did. You know, we expected to start by hearing a defense motion to suppress evidence that was seized in the initial arrest of Warren Jeffs. But for the first 30 minutes there was no court at all. And then when the judge came in, Barbara Walther, she had this strange look on her face. And then defense attorney Deric Walpole stood up and told the judge he'd been fired, and in fact all his defense attorneys had been fired because he was determined to represent himself.

SIEGEL: And how did the judge respond to that?

GOODWYN: She did everything she could to dissuade Jeffs. She said that he'd assembled some of the best defense talent in Texas. She told Jeffs that in all her years as a lawyer and a judge she'd never seen a defendant successfully defend himself. She warned him that by defending himself he forfeited the right to appeal on grounds of, you know, inadequate counsel. And finally that he was not going to be given a continuance just because he wanted to represent himself - that the jury was going to be sworn in and the trial was going to be started today. And you could tell the judge believed that that was the real reason he was doing this firing his lawyers and representing himself- was to delay the trial. But nothing she said could persuade Jeffs to change his mind.

SIEGEL: So, the case is moving ahead. And both sides were given a chance to make opening statements, including Jeffs. How did that go?

GOODWYN: Well, it went fine for the prosecution. They gave their opening statements and told the jury how they were going to prove the case. And when Jeffs' turn came, he just sat there with his head down, staring at his lap - silent. And I guess the judge gave him two minutes. You could see the jury, slowly dawn on them that Jeffs was not going to say anything. And finally, the judge said, well, if you're not going to speak, we'll just say that you're reserving your right to speak and off we went with the trial.

But, every time evidence was placed before Jeffs, or every time it was his turn to cross-examine a witness, he just sat there quietly. And the more this went on, you could tell, the more aggravated the judge became. And finally, she stopped the trial and, again, tried to talk Jeffs into, you know, stop representing himself, to call his counsel back. She kept him in court but he said no.

SIEGEL: And so, this will just resume tomorrow?

GOODWYN: So off we go again. At the end of the trial today, she again pleaded with Jeffs. And that's when it really seemed that his decision not to talk was really he was throwing a fit. He said, I object to these proceedings, I asked for more time and you're not giving it to me. She said, you've had two years to get ready for this. And he was led away and that was the end of it.

SIEGEL: Thank you, Wade.

GOODWYN: It's my pleasure.

SIEGEL: That's NPR's Wade Goodwyn, speaking with us about the trial of Warren Jeffs in San Angelo, Texas.
 
NPR.org
Originally broadcast July 28, 2011
 
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