| Jeffs' trial set for April Judge rules there is enough evidence to warrant trial against polygamist church leader | |
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By Patrice St. Germain patrices@thespectrum.com | |
ST. GEORGE — A judge ruled this afternoon that polygamist church leader Warren Jeffs will stand trial on two counts of rape as an accomplice. His trial date has been set for April 23. Judge James L. Shumate ruled in 5th District Court that the Washington County Attorney’s Office had enough evidence to warrant a jury trial against Jeffs, who had been on the run since landing on the FBI’s top 10 most-wanted list before being captured near Las Vegas. The alleged victim, known as Jane Doe IV, has said that she was forced into marrying her 19-year-old cousin when she was only 14 years old in 2001 in Caliente, Nev. During closing arguments earlier in the day, defense attorney Walter Bugden said that just because his client told Jane Doe IV and her husband to go forth and multiply, it did not mean Jeffs was telling the couple to have sexual intercourse. Bugden produced several references pulled from religious and wedding Web sites to support his argument. He called the phrase "traditional religious spiel." Bugden also argued that the first count of rape as an accomplice was in a time frame around the marriage and that Doe only said she didn't want to get married, not that she didn't want to have sex. Bugden also argued that conversations between Doe and Jeffs following the marriage were vague, and at no time did Doe tell Jeffs that she was being forced to have sexual intercourse. He said that she only referred to husband-wife relationships that made her uncomfortable. In his closing arguments, Deputy Washington County attorney Ryan Shaum said that the state had enough evidence to bind Jeffs over for trial in part because of Jeffs’ position of authority as Doe's former school principal and his standing as the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which teaches polygamy as one of its doctrines. The defense opened its case today by calling only one witness — Detective Sgt. Shauna Jones, with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. Bugden asked Jones if she had ever been involved in a case in which an attorney for the alleged victim helped prepare statements for the prosecution — in this case, the Washington County Attorney’s Office. Jones, who has been in law enforcement for 11 years, said no. Bugden also asked Jones if she knew that the state had reportedly paid the victim and her current husband in excess of $16,000 to testify in the case. After the hearing, Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap said that the county paid no money to the woman. The money came from a state safe-passages grant, which helped pay for moving expenses and lost wages for the woman and her family. Belnap also said that his office would take "appropriate action" against the man who allegedly was married to Doe at the "appropriate time." Also during her testimony, Jones said that although the alleged victim said she never spoke to Jeffs explicitly about having sex with her husband, she was sure Jeffs knew what she meant when she described incidents as "husband-wife relations." For more details on today’s preliminary hearing, see tomorrow’s print edition of The Spectrum & Daily News. | |
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TheSpectrum.com Originally published December 14, 2006 | |
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