Jeffs' Utah accuser speaks out on eve of Texas trial
 
Reported by: Brent Hunsaker
ABC 4 News
 
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - As the Texas trial of polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs begins in earnest, ABC 4 News sat down with the woman who was at the center of Jeffs' Utah trial. Elissa Wall was was Jeffs' accuser. His victim. She claimed that at 14 years of age, she was forced by Jeffs into marriage with her adult, first cousin. By doing that and more, Utah prosecutors charged Jeffs with being an accomplice to her rape.

In the fall of 2007, A St. George jury agreed with Elissa, finding Warren Jeffs guilty on two felony counts.

But her elation over the verdict turned to despair when the Utah Supreme Court last year threw out the jury's verdict and ordered a new trial. The reason boiled down to this: an error in the judge's instructions to the jury on the issue of "consent." A technicality.

"My experience has definitely given me a brutal reality check," Elissa Wall told ABC 4.

"It's been tough. There have been times where ... I questioned myself. I questioned the entire situation. I questioned my decisions. But at the end of the day I am confident. I did everything in my power to fight for myself."

As a young girl growing up in the FLDS polygamous group, Elissa was taught Warren Jeffs was more than a prophet. She believed he was like God, that he could do and say no wrong. To go against that belief was to destroy the foundation of her life. "When it comes to Warren, I'm grateful that my foundation was shattered -- my view of him. I am grateful I am able to look at him and know without a shadow of a doubt that he is a mortal man who has done heinous things."

The current charges against Warren Jeffs come from the April, 2008 raid on the FLDS ranch outside of Eldorado, Texas. "I was so proud of Texas," said Wall. "I was in tears that somebody would stand up and do something on a massive level."

From that raid, prosecutors are said to have church marriage records, photos and DNA proving that Jeffs had sex with girls as young as 12.

Elissa said when she sees the apparent wedding photos of Jeffs kissing on the lips a little girl, "It makes me angry. It makes me sick. And it makes me so sad that we have allowed this to happen."

Still, she has hope that what she sees as justice for Warren Jeffs will finally come in a west Texas courtroom.

"I do have faith in the prosecuting team in Texas."
 
ABC4.com
Originally broadcast July 27, 2011
 
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