| Judge appoints attorney to Jeffs case | |||
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By Matthew Waller San Angelo Standard-Times | |||
SAN ANGELO, Texas — Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, had legal representation. Then he fired his legal representation. Then he had legal representation appointed to him. Fifty-first District Court Judge Barbara Walther appointed Fred Brigman, a San Angelo attorney, to Jeffs case after Jeffs discharged his counsel during a pretrial hearing Wednesday. Jeffs asked the judge to give him more time in an unprepared speech during which he cautiously pronounced every word and spent time looking slightly down from Walther’s bench as he spoke. "I just ask you to allow me a little more time in finding counsel that suits the needs I have," Jeffs said. "I will seek hastily help from those who understand my needs. I’m not attempting to hinder in anyway the proceedings, only accomplishing what is needed to attain representation more suitable, not having full contact wherein I can interview on that can perform what I need. ... Therefore I ask the court to not set the trial date until I have the counsel of my choosing. ... I request that there be an order of a simple one or two week extension of time to determine their full qualifications and abilities. I humbly ask the court for the sake of defense and justice served." Before he made his address, the prosecution, headed by Eric Nichols, asked for the court to appoint an attorney to Jeffs and to set the date for the trial to cover both aggravated sexual assault and sexual assault for Feb. 21. "I think the court’s concerns on the time limit are well founded," Nichols said. Nichols referred to a 120-day period that Walther has said she believes applies to Jeffs as a deadline for prosecuting Jeffs since he was extradited to Texas from Utah. Gerry Morris, an Austin attorney, had entered an appearance for Jeffs at a pretrial hearing Wednesday morning on the condition that new trial dates be considered. "The court will be glad to work with you," Walther said. Jeffs refused to sign the waiver of the 120-day prosecution, Walther said from the bench when the court reconvened at 5 p.m., having broken before noon. Nichols, the lead prosecutor in the case, had read an indictment before the court that morning. "It was a reindictment of the two cases pending," Nichols said. In the reindictment, the aggravated sexual assault charge and the sexual assault charge Jeffs previously faced were converted to two counts of sexual assault under the same charge, Nichols said. The first count, aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 years old, is a first-degree felony and the second count, sexual assault of a child under 17 years old, is a second-degree felony, Nichols said. "He will remain silent," Morris said while Jeffs was his client. Walther has said that the court will enter pleas of not guilty for a defendant who remains silent, which the court did for Jeffs. Jeffs has remained silent during arraignments in previous pretrials. Nichols said that having both counts under one indictment allows the state to try both allegations in one trial. Jeffs previously faced three trials. He now faces two, one on the sexual assault allegations and another on a charge of first-degree felony bigamy. The pretrial for the Feb. 21 trial on the sexual assault charges is set for Jan. 31. Jeffs is the eighth of 12 men to undergo prosecution based on evidence obtained from the FLDS Yearning for Zion Ranch. The April 2008 raid happened because of a hoax phone call from a woman who claimed sexual abuse at the ranch. Law enforcement personnel removed trailer loads of evidence, and they also took more than 400 children from the ranch, although an appellate court had the children returned. The seven men that have undergone prosecution have received sentences from six to 75 years in prison mostly for sexual assault of a child and bigamy. The FLDS has been known for sanctioning polygamous marriages. Jeffs has been in jail for since his conviction of accomplice to rape in Utah in 2007. He was then sent to Arizona to be tried for charges relating to an underage marriage ceremony that he was alleged to have performed, but those charges were dismissed in 2010 to pave the way for a Texas extradition for the charges he now faces. Jeffs fought the extradition because the Utah supreme court overturned his 2007 charges in Utah because of faulty jury instructions, and his attorneys wanted him retried before going to Texas. The Utah supreme court upheld the extradition order and he arrived in Texas at the end of November. Jeffs has undergone five pretrials, mostly with the aid of an attorney from Nevada who has helped Jeffs before, but who has not been able to practice in Texas. The state is holding Jeffs in Big Lake, where the sheriff says Jeffs has been cooperative and hasn’t caused any trouble of the sort reported when he was held in jail in Arizona. Sheriff staff in Mohave County, Ariz., reported that Jeffs would go on fasts that endangered his health and kneel in prayer to the point that he had sores on his knees requiring medical treatment. | |||
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gosanangelo.com Originally published January 5, 2011 | |||
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