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By Patrice St. Germain patrices@thespectrum.com | |||||
ST. GEORGE - Unlike the children's rhyme about first comes love, then comes marriage, the faithful in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints marry first, with the belief love will follow. Love and marital relations happen anywhere from two months to close to two years after the marriage in a religion where placement marriage is the norm and the women are expected to initiate intimate relations with their husbands, according to Tuesday's testimony in the Warren Jeffs trial. The FLDS prophet is charged with two counts of rape as an accomplice for allegedly arranging a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old first cousin. According to witnesses who took the stand for the defense, forcefulness on the part of the husband is not part of the religion and a woman, although brought up to obey her priesthood head, only has to do so if he is deemed "righteous." The testimony came on a day when the prosecution rested its case against Jeffs. After playing a 30-minute recording from April 13, 2002 where former Colorado City Assistant Marshal Sam Barlow talked about how he believed the church's principle of marriage by revelation was under attack, the state rested. Defense attorney Walter Bugden asked for the charges against his client to be dismissed because the state's evidence had not proved that Jeffs had knowledge about any sexual relations between the alleged victim and her husband. Fifth District Court Judge James L. Shumate denied the motion to dismiss the first-degree felony charges against Jeffs, which carry a five-year-to-life sentence for each count. The defense team called in numerous witnesses - all members of the FLDS religion - to testify about their education, marriages and understanding of the beliefs of the church. Jennie Pipkin, 26, was the first defense witness. Married at 17, Pipkin said she was ready to be "placed" in a marriage and said she took the first step by telling her father she wanted to be taken to the prophet to "turn herself in." Pipkin met with then-prophet Rulon Jeffs, Warren's father, gave the name of a young man she had received an "impression" about and was married a day later. Pipkin spoke about the concept of obedience and that the faithful learn the lessons of the church through devotions, sermons and books. When asked if a wife is obligated to everything her husband tells her, Pipkin burst out laughing. "Of course not, that's hypocritical," she said. "Suppose he went psycho." Pipkin said she listens to devotions, home teachings and home economic classes almost every morning and said she enjoys them very much. She has about 769 of these items stored on her Ipod. Pipkin talked about how under the FLDS doctrine, force is against the religion and after eight years of marriage and five children, she told her husband she needed a break from having children and that she no longer wanted him to hug, kiss or touch her. FLDS doctrine states that sexual intercourse is only for the purpose of procreation. Pipkin said her husband followed her around the house begging her to reconsider, telling her "I need it. It's your duty to comfort me." Pipkin wrote a letter to Warren Jeffs about her husband's persistence. The couple received a response from Jeffs and the nagging stopped. Pipkin testified that later, her husband undressed her and began touching her intimately while she was sleeping. She said she woke up, dressed and left the bedroom to sleep on the couch. When she reported her husband's behavior to Jeffs, she was released from the marriage, which is the equivalent of a divorce. During cross-examination, Pipkin said when she wrote the second letter to Jeffs, she talked about her husband touching her intimately, although she had not made that invitation. She indicated she used the words sexual relations in her first letter to Jeffs. Part of the state's case has been that the alleged victim, identified as Jane Doe IV, did not use the words sexual intercourse or rape when talking to Jeffs about unwanted touching from her husband because she did not know what the word rape meant and didn't have any knowledge of sexual intercourse at the time of her marriage at age 14. Pipkin, at the time she wrote to Jeffs, was older and had five children. Several couples testified Tuesday afternoon about FLDS principles. All the women who testified had asked to be placed in marriages and said their husbands respected their wishes to put off sexual intimacy until they were ready - or in love - which lasted anywhere from two to 18 months for the couples. One woman, Charlotte Anna Jessop, who was married at age 23 to her 47-year old husband, was not happy when prosecutor Craig Barlow asked her how many other wives her husband had when she married him. Jessop turned to Shumate and asked if she had to answer the question. Shumate said she did. Jessop said her husband had three other wives when they married and had no children. Doe has maintained that her husband had sexual intercourse without her consent and that she had gone to Warren Jeffs asking to be released from the marriage, saying that at 14, she was too young. Washington County lead prosecutor Ryan Shaum argued when Bugden asked to have the charges against Jeffs dismissed that Doe's marriage was not what she wanted and when she went to Jeffs about her husband's unwanted touching and advances, her pleas fell on deaf ears. "When Warren Jeffs placed her hand in his (Doe's husband during the marriage ceremony) and told them to multiply and replenish the Earth, he is expecting them to have intercourse," Shaum said. After court adjourned for the day, the alleged victim, was seen hugging Joanna Keate, one of the defense witnesses who had testified earlier in the day. Keate told the court that when she was married, she didn't love her husband and did not want to have children until she loved her husband. She said that didn't happen for a couple of years. | |||||
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TheSpectrum.com Originally published September 19, 2007 | |||||
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