| Sect leader goes on trial over child rape charges | |
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By Alexandria Sage The Scotsman - UK | |
A SELF-PROCLAIMED prophet of a polygamous Mormon clan in an isolated desert enclave on the Utah and Arizona border went on trial yesterday, accused of arranging a marriage between an unwilling 14-year-old girl and her cousin. Warren Jeffs, 51, has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of being an accomplice to rape, which carry a maximum life sentence. He has been in prison since August 2006 after 15 months as a fugitive on the FBI's most-wanted list. The Jeffs trial is the long-awaited crux in authorities' efforts to control the 7,500-strong enclave of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) in the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona - a dusty, red-rock area 100 miles north-west of the Grand Canyon. For years, the group has lived virtually free of outside interference from authorities, although exiled or escaped members reported crimes such as welfare and tax fraud, underage marriages and sexual abuse. But three years ago, Utah's attorney-general convened a taskforce to uncover crimes in polygamous communities, including abuse of minors and other sex offences. Although polygamy is banned under Utah law, authorities say prosecuting so-called plural marriages is impractical. Jeffs' accuser, known as Jane Doe, was 14 at the time of the arranged marriage in 2001. She has testified that she protested over the "celestial marriage" to her 19-year-old cousin, directing complaints to Jeffs and family members, but acquiesced under pressure. She came forward to authorities after leaving her husband. A secretive community that views outsiders with suspicion, the FLDS was strictly ruled by Jeffs, its president who took over after the death of his father, Rulon, in 2002. The FLDS is a fundamentalist, breakaway sect of the Mormon church that holds to the early tenets of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, such as polygamy. The church renounced plural marriage around the turn of the 20th century when Utah was vying for statehood, but it remains a thorn in the side of church, which has come down strongly against the practice still maintained by up to 37,000 people in the inter-mountain west. The FLDS believes its prophet's power comes directly from God, and marriages are arranged after a "revelation". Women, who wear long braids and dresses in the same style as pioneers a century ago, are taught to be submissive and that the only way to reach heaven is through their husband. Family trees are tangled by intermarriage. According to authorities, a majority of residents in the twin communities receive food stamps or are on welfare - fraud occurs when several of a polygamist's wives claim to be single mothers. Described as a paranoid, manipulative leader who warned his faithful of the "wicked" outside world, Jeffs forbade TV and the internet and began exiling young male members of the community in 2004, reassigning their wives to other men. Hundreds of male teenagers, known as the "Lost Boys", have been kicked out in what authorities have called attempts by Jeffs to reduce competition for wives. As the Jeffs case brings polygamy into the open, many in Utah scorn what they see as a backward tradition, a view that supporters deem unfair. "The ones that are hardest on us are the ones who had it in their background," said former sect member Ross Chatwin. But Eric Wardell, 24, a student, said: "I don't understand why it's not prosecuted. I'm suspicious of perverted intentions." Supporters of polygamy say it helps build stronger families and makes childcare easier for mothers who work. "There are so many happy, consenting adult families that people just don't pay attention to," said Anne Wilde, co-founder of the pro-polygamy group Principle Voices, and a widow from a polygamous marriage of 33 years. Prosecution witnesses are expected to include the girl, members of her family, exiled male critics of Jeffs and former wives. The defence has listed 70 people as possible witnesses, most of whom carry the last names of some of the FLDS' most established polygamous family clans. FAITH FOUNDED BY A MAN WITH TWO DOZEN WIVES
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TheScotsman.scotsman.com Originally published September 14, 2007 | |
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