| 'Uncle Fred arranged marriage,' sister says at Jeffs trial | |
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By Nancy Perkins Deseret Morning News | |
ST. GEORGE — Fred Jessop, the stepfather of the woman accusing polygamist leader Warren Jeffs of rape as an accomplice, insisted his daughter marry a cousin she despised, an older sister testified in 5th District Court on Monday. "Fred put the marriage together, but Warren could have stopped it," Rebecca Musser testified during cross-examination by defense counsel Wally Bugden. "Fred insisted and Warren upheld it." Jessop, who died in 2005, was the second counselor in the Fundamentalist LDS Church, along with Warren Jeffs, who served as first counselor to his father, Rulon Jeffs, who was the prophet. Jeffs, 51, is charged with two first-degree felony counts of rape as an accomplice. He is accused of conducting the ceremony that united the then-14-year-old girl with a cousin that she testified earlier she hated, and of counseling the girl to submit to her husband, "mind, body and soul." Musser, who at 19 married Jeffs' 86-year-old father in 1995, said she was "horrified" to learn her younger sister would undergo an arranged marriage. "She was only 14, and I asked my mother if it was really true and if Uncle Fred was sure it was going to happen," Musser testified. "She was very emotional, crying, saying she didn't want to do this. I tried to encourage her if she went to the authorities of the church they might help her." Bugden asked her why she and other family members didn't stop the marriage, especially since Musser was married to the faith's prophet at the time. She has since left the religion and is married to another man. "Rulon Jeffs did not put that marriage together, he didn't understand," she said. "He had no clue. Uncle Fred arranged the marriage, not the prophet." Musser testified that Warren Jeffs "was just the errand boy," and that he "wanted to respect Fred's wishes." "I couldn't stop it. If I was to call anyone, I would have been severely reprimanded," she said. "To stay in the good graces of my priesthood head, I could not stop it." Musser said she helped make her sister's wedding dress and decorated her room to help "cheer her up" and congratulate her after the wedding at a Nevada motel. "You did not believe when you decorated the room that you were encouraging the rape of your sister, did you?" Bugden asked her, to which she said, "Not in those words, no." Another sister, who is no longer a member of the polygamous sect, took the witness stand before the lunch break and said she told her younger sister she didn't have to marry anyone. "I gave her an option, to me it was she could just leave," the sister testified. "But then to not get married, she would have to give up our mother, brothers and sisters. ...I told her you don't have to do it, but that doesn't mean there are really other options." Earlier in the day, defense attorney Tara Isaacson asked the now 21-year-old accuser if she ever told Warren Jeffs that she had to submit to sex with her husband against her will. Contrary to previous testimony, she answered, "yes." Isaacson asked the woman if her former husband ever raped her and she said, "yes," which also contradicted her earlier testimony. Jeffs' attorneys pointed out to the jury that the woman never told anyone she had been raped, only that her husband was touching her in ways she did not like. The woman admitted that she would "sugar up" to her husband at times to get money and other favors from him. She was shown love notes and cards written to her by her husband during their 3 1/2 years of marriage, which prompted her to say he "was a good guy" and that she hadn't planned to "pursue" him in any criminal matters. The defense also questioned her about an affair she had with another man while she was still married to her cousin. She finally left the FLDS Church in 2004 after becoming pregnant with the man's child. She is now married to that man, who is listed as a prosecution witness. The trial is expected to continue through Friday, although Judge James Shumate told jurors during the selection process that it could easily run into next week. E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com | |
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deseretnews.com Originally published September 18, 2007 | |
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