| Jane Doe IV testifies | |
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By Patrice St. Germain patrices@thespectrum.com | |
ST. GEORGE - Jane Doe IV said she knew nothing about sexual intercourse, how babies were made or male anatomy when she was married. The first time Doe's husband took her against her will, she was so upset afterward and felt so dirty that she couldn't even go to her mother, who lived in the same house, who Doe considered her best friend and confidant, she said. Instead, Doe retreated to a bathroom were she swallowed a bottle of ibuprofen and Tylenol, she said. "I wanted to die," Doe tearfully testified. "I didn't want to deal with (her husband), the prophet, Warren (Jeffs), Fred (Jessop) or my mother. I was so hurt by them." The events leading up to and including Doe's marriage at age 14 to her 19-year-old first cousin in April 2001 are still so painful to Doe that during her testimony Friday morning, Doe broke down sobbing and asked Judge James L. Shumate for a short break to compose herself. Doe was the first witness called in the state's case against Warren Steed Jeffs, 51, on two charges of rape as an accomplice for his alleged role in arranging the marriage between the young girl and her cousin. Doe talked about growing up in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose principle doctrines are plural and arranged marriage where sex was not talked about and how a woman grew up believing that the only way to heaven was through her "priesthood head," whom upon marriage, was the woman's husband. The girl knew nothing about sex and said the only thing she knew was that once she started her menstrual cycle she was told she was "now ready to have children." Married at the age of 14, Doe talked about how she pleaded with Rulon Jeffs, Warren's father who was the prophet of the church at the time. Warren Jeffs was the first counselor and the next in the chain of command under his father. Third in line was Fred Jessop. Doe testified that when she found out she was to be married, she spoke to Jessop about the upcoming marriage and said although she did not want to defy the prophet, felt she was too young to marry. Once she found out it was her cousin she was to marry, a man she called a "bully" in the preliminary hearing, Doe went to Rulon Jeffs and spoke to him. "He put his hand on my head and told me to follow my heart and to keep sweet," Doe said tearfully. "I was so grateful." But minutes later, Warren Jeffs reportedly told Doe that "her heart was in the wrong place and this (the marriage) is what the prophet directed her to do." Denying the prophet's word, Doe said, is unthinkable in the religion, which also doesn't talk about sexual intercourse but calls it man-wife relationships. During the first full day of testimony, a defense attorney objected to Doe's recounting the story about Rulon Jeffs, resulting in a recess. Judge James L. Shumate ruled that the statement was not hearsay and that Doe could relate what Rulon Jeffs, who is deceased, said to her. Doe was questioned by Craig Barlow, who is on the prosecution team about how she could have left the Hildale community when she found out she was to be wed, but Doe said there were no options for her. Instead, in complete despair, she had to prepare for a wedding and while making the wedding dress, Doe said she kept thinking she was getting ready for death. Doe was reportedly married by Warren Jeffs in a hotel in Caliente, Nev., along with her half sisters - Ruby and Annie Jessop - who were married to Haven Barlow and Jerry Barlow, respectively. Doe said Ruby's husband was in his 20s and Annie's was in his 30s when the girls were wed. Doe said she didn't know at the time what the word "rape" meant and cried and pleaded with her husband the first time he took her against her will. During the latter part of Friday afternoon, audio tapes of Home Economics classes by Jeffs were played. One tape talked about how girls are to keep the "bars up" and have resistance when it comes to men until one man is chosen for her and then it's "bars down" and that each morning, a wife shall rejoice in his will. "A woman obeys a man as far as a man obeys the prophet," Jeffs says on the tape. "Keeping sweet" and a woman giving herself mind, body and soul were also frequently on the tapes played. After a long week, after listening to the tapes for almost an hour, several people, including Jeffs himself, nodded off although earlier, he appeared to be taking notes as his tapes were played. Barlow said the prosecution and defense teams had concurred not to play the remaining hour of taped teachings of Jeffs and recessed early for the weekend. Tara Isaacson, one of Jeffs' defense attorneys, spoke during the opening statements about if a rape even occurred and if so, was Jeffs knowledgeable about the alleged rape. Isaacson said during opening statements that Doe never told Jeffs she was being raped, and Doe testified that when she talked to Jeffs, she told him that her husband was touching her in places that she didn't want to be touched and was doing things she didn't like. Jeffs' reply, according to Doe, was that she was to repent and give herself to her husband mind, body and soul. | |
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TheSpectrum.com Originally published September 15, 2007 | |
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