| Jeffs' trial dates pushed back New lawyer doubts he'll be ready by then | |
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By Matthew Waller San Angelo Standard-Times | |
SAN ANGELO, Texas — Attorneys and trial dates shifted again in preparation for the trial of Warren Jeffs, the head of the FLDS. Jeff Kearney, an attorney from Fort Worth, said at a pretrial hearing Monday in Tom Green County Court he would replace Jeffs' previous court-appointed attorney, Fred Brigman of San Angelo. "Welcome aboard," 51st District Judge Barbara Walther, the presiding judge, said to Kearney. Brigman said that although he was appointed, Jeffs found his own attorney after firing another attorney earlier in the month. "Jeffs retained his own counsel," Brigman said as to why he was relieved. The trial on two counts of sexual assault of a child — one for assault a child younger than 14 and one for a child younger than 17 — was rescheduled from Feb. 21 to July 25, and a trial on charges of felony bigamy was rescheduled from March 14 to Oct. 3. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints sanctions polygamous marriages, and Jeffs is among a dozen members of the sect who have been charged under allegations they married underage girls while married to other women. Kearney objected to the scheduling, arguing that he hadn't had enough time to gauge how long preparations would take, especially given how much material there is to go through. "I've heard it described as voluminous. I've heard it described as awesome," Kearney said. He said that he had heard that the evidence filled a space that would cover most of the courtroom he was in but that he hadn't had time to inspect it. "I was employed this morning," Kearney said. Walther, who has been presiding over the criminal trials of FLDS men, said Kearney would have an opportunity to file motions for continuance to push back the date if needed. Walther set a new pretrial hearing date for March 30, and Kearney again objected. "I can't imagine we would be ready for a pretrial," Kearney said. Walther said the pretrial hearing would be more of a status hearing. She said she wanted to have the hearing March 30 because that date marks the end of the original time limit, about 120 days, by which time the state of Texas had to prosecute Jeffs. Kearney noted his new client had signed a waiver allowing him to be tried after the 120-day time period. Jeffs was brought to Texas from Utah, where he had been awaiting extradition after Arizona dropped charges against him regarding allegations to do with an underage marriage. Jeffs had been fighting the extradition to Texas because the Utah Supreme Court had overturned a 2007 conviction in that state of accomplice to rape because of another alleged underage marriage, but the Utah Supreme Court upheld the extradition order that the governor had signed. Jeffs is the eighth of 12 men indicted after a raid on the FLDS Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado in 2008. The raid, intended to answer a hoax distress call from a woman claiming she was being sexually abused on the Schleicher County ranch, produced the enormous volume of documents and materials that Kearney expressed concern about Monday. The FLDS men that have undergone prosecution have been given sentences ranging from six to 75 years in prison. Their trials have taken place in San Angelo and Eldorado in Schleicher County, the county where the raid was conducted. No venue has been selected for Jeffs' trial. | |
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gosanangelo.com Originally published January 31, 2011 | |
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