Jury selection continues in polygamous-sect leader's trial
 
By Jennifer Dobner
The Associated Press
The San Diego Union-Tribune
 
ST. GEORGE, Utah – Jury selection for the trial of a polygamous-sect leader resumed Tuesday with potential jurors interviewed in the judge's chambers.

Warren Jeffs, the head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is charged with two felony counts of rape by accomplice in the arranged religious union of a 14-year-old follower and her 19-year-old cousin in 2001.

After considering more than 100 over two days, only 15 people had been qualified for the final jury pool by midday Tuesday. The majority were excused by 5th District Judge James Shumate based on responses to an 11-page questionnaire.

He and attorneys planned to speak to at least 52 people Tuesday.

Shumate said he needs a final pool of at least 28 people to pick eight jurors and four alternates for opening statements Wednesday.

The people questioned so far have ranged in age from 20s to retirees, from skilled-trade workers and homemakers to professionals and others in white-collar jobs.

Most seem to know know something about Jeffs and his case, but the level of information varied.

One person knew that police found "wigs and computers and money" inside Jeffs' car during his arrest in August 2006, while some said they hadn't followed the case beyond the capture.

Most have also said believed they could be a fair juror, and many expressed a certain tolerance for the religious practices of the FLDS church, which include polygamy.

"To each his own," said one St. George woman, who works in accounting.

Similarly, potential jurors were asked their opinion about arranged marriages, also part of FLDS culture.

"It's part of their religion, so we can't really judge them on that," one man said.

If Shumate is unable to seat a jury in Washington County, he plans to move the trial to Salt Lake City, 300 miles north.

Jeffs, 51, is accused of coercing the marriage of the 14-year-old, who is now an adult, over her objections. She has testified that Jeffs told her it was her religious duty to have sex to produce children.

The 75-question survey asked prospective jurors what they had seen or heard much about the case in the news media.

Attorneys also asked about religion and whether anyone had experience with polygamists or had ties to the mainstream Mormon church, the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Once part of early Mormon doctrine, plural marriage remains a central tenet of the FLDS faith. Mormons abandoned polygamy in 1890 as a condition of Utah's statehood.

The FLDS also practices arranged marriage, with couples chosen by the church prophet. Church members live about 50 miles east of St. George in the border communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

If convicted, Jeffs faces a possible penalty of up to life in prison.
 
signonsandiego.com
Originally published September 11, 2007
 
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