Polygamy trial begins in Utah
 Reports of underage sex support state's case against Warren Jeffs
 
Story by ABC News
49 ABC KTKA - Topeka, Kansas
 
Today, jurors will hear opening statements in the trial of Warren Jeffs, the polygamist leader and self-proclaimed prophet who faces life in prison if he's found guilty of forcing young girls to marry older men.

Candi Shapley is just one of the women who told ABC News' her story about life under Jeffs. She says he married her off in hotel at just 16 years old. Her husband was 12 years older and already had another wife. She says he forced her to have sex.

"One time, he actually held me down, covered my mouth, you know, ripped my clothes off. And that was because I told him I didn't, I wasn't ready to have children," Shapley said.

Stories like Shapley's put Jeffs on the FBI's Most Wanted list and on trial in Utah. He is the leader of the fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints. His followers live in hidden desert enclaves, where they say religious freedom protects their right to have multiple wives. He is on trial for marrying off a young teen and encouraging her to have sex.

"He's telling her if you don't have sex with this person, you're going to hell," said Criminal Defense attorney Monica Lindstrom.

The state's case rests on the testimony of Jane Doe IV, a former sect member who told prosecutors about her marriage to a cousin when she was just 14, calling it "the darkest time of my entire life."

"People throughout the community are going to be very bitter about her testifying against their religious leader," Private Investigator Sam Brower said.

But supporters say the case is about protecting children.

"Jeffs can believe in polygamy. He can believe that 14 year olds should have sex with 19 year olds. But when he puts that into practice that's where the government and the prosecution steps in and says 'you have crossed the line,'" Lindstrom said.

The judge overseeing the trial says polygamists see themselves involved in a civil-rights struggle, similar to African Americans in the 1950s.
 
49abcnews.com
Originally broadcast Thursday, September 13, 2007
 
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