San Angelo, Texas • A jury on Thursday convicted polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs of sexually assaulting two girls, ages 12 and 15, whom he took as plural wives.
The West Texas panel of 10 women and two men deliberated about 3 1/2 hours before finding the 55-year-old man guilty of one count each of sexual assault of a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Jeffs stood to hear the verdict, stared directly at District Judge Barbara Walther, then sat back down.
The same jury that convicted him will now decide his sentence, which could be imprisonment for up to life.
That penalty phase of the trial was to begin Thursday afternoon following a short break.
After the verdict, Jeffs’ standby attorney, Deric Walpole, told news reporters, "Any time there’s a loss, we are disappointed."
Walpole added that it appeared Jeffs would continue to represent himself during the next portion of the trial.
Prosecutors said they would need about two days to present evidence pertaining to Jeffs’ sentence, which can include other alleged bad acts. The verdict followed some bizarre behavior by Jeffs —the self-proclaimed prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints — during his opportunity to present a closing argument.
During the 30 minutes allotted to him, Jeffs stood silent for all but the final minutes, when he muttered some barely audible words, then sat down.
Emily Detoto, one of Jeffs’ former attorneys, confirmed the one-sentence closing statement was, "I am at peace."
Jeffs had spent the first 20 minutes of his closing staring forward. He then turned his gaze toward the prosecutors and the jury. At the 24-minute mark, Jeffs uttered the four-word phrase. He sat down six minutes later.
When Jeffs’ 30 minutes ran out, Walther declared the trial concluded and ordered the jury to begin deliberating.
During his closing statement, prosecutor Eric Nichols stressed to jurors that the so-called religious persecution and freedom issues Jeffs had raised in his defense should have nothing to do with their deliberations.
"This case is not about any people, not about any religion. This case is about Warren Steed Jeffs and what he has done," Nichols said.
Prior to closing arguments, with the jury out of the room, Jeffs made a motion to allow the jury find him innocent of based on "pure religious intent." Walther denied the motion.
I say, cut is wee wee off. We know he likes boys, too. He'll have fun in jail, trying to be preacher man.
ReplyDeleteIt is not rape in our culture. a man take a bride young to raise them up right with the lord.
ReplyDeletehave you never read the
Book of Mormon? you would know. Do you really think that God made one book and quit? Silly people.
Esther Ruth, it doesn't matter if it is rape in your culture or not. Federal, state, county, and local laws, as well as common sense, supersede the Book of Mormon and Warren Jeff's religious edicts.
ReplyDeleteAMEN. I followed the Casey Anthony trial, and thought, jeez, you never know with the jurors.
ReplyDeleteIf a girl still needs to be "raised," no one has any business having sex with her! When girls are raised, they are women. If she's not old enough to vote, she ain't old enough to screw!
ReplyDeleteHow come girls all over the country get married at 14 and have babies, and if their parents sign, it's just fine. It was a privildge to marry the prophet to those girls,. they lived well, well, except for the jealous old wives.
ReplyDelete"How come girls all over the country get married at 14 and have babies, and if their parents sign, it's just fine. It was a privildge to marry the prophet to those girls,. they lived well, well, except for the jealous old wives."
ReplyDeleteGirls all over the country get married at 14 ?
Esther Ruth, I suspect that you must live on an isolated compound, marriage at age 14 is extremely uncommon in mainstream society. 14 yr old girls belong in school.
(Sorry men)
ReplyDeleteI didn't have my period until I was 14. I would hate to think I was married!
Esther, we've asked several times for any polygamists to tell us their story. Please tell us yours. Just trying to contradict what even A jury of his peers decided, well, isn't going to give us any insight.
Do you really feel that 12 and 14 is acceptable?
Yes, some do get married, BUT IS IS EXTREMELY RARE. I don't know of any, do the rest of you?
We try to be fair on here. You need to be fair and tell us your story.
Esther Ruth, why do I get the feeling you are just playing with us? If you are an FLDS, tell us your story. Not just a blast here and a blast there.
ReplyDeleteI read this somewhere is and am re-posting, I thought it was good enough to share:
ReplyDeleteI've followed the FLDS & the Jeffs saga since finding out they built a compound in SD. I hear people saying that with Jeffs gone, the rest are free, etc. What people don't understand, this is a multi-generational, isolated group. Jeffs is following in the steps of his father, who followed his father, etc. They are not allowed tv, radio, internet, etc and the majority of the children are not taught beyond an 8th grade level. They know nothing but the world they exist in.
One girl who escaped had been taught that if she left the sacred grounds of their community, she would burst into flames & die. When the abuse got intolerable, she ran, thinking death was better than her life. You can imagine her shock when nothing happened. They know nothing but what they are taught and what they see around them from birth. You can't infiltrate because outsiders just aren't allowed to interact with them. They are taught all outsiders are the devil sent to keep them from going to heaven and taught to fear them. They are taught that lying to outsiders or "bleeding the beast" is a good thing, to protect the sacred.
Jon Krakauer (Into The Wild) among others, have written about them. It is chilling!!!! It's not just girls, boys are abused by men also. A man in the FLDS can have all his wives & children taken from him and reassigned to another man if they don't please the prophet. He might not ever even know exactly why.
If Jeffs ever loses his place as prophet, there are other men already in place to move up. These people need help. They continue the abuse and actively participate in it generation after generation as it is beat into them from birth that this is what you need to do to go to heaven. To have your daughter selected as a wife of the prophet is an honor. They need to keep pursuing this group, each case cracks the shell open a little further for a ray of hope to slip in to those who need it.
If they don't have TV or Internet, how is Esther Reaching us? Or she another day or two hoaxer?
Wondering if now that warren Jeffs is convicted of this horrendous crime if the same thing will come to Winston Blackmore from "Bountiful" BC...........there is crimes like this in Canada as well right under our noses.............
ReplyDeleteEvery single person who labels this "perverted" or "disgusting" is simply imposing their own cultural bias on people who are not part of that culture. Have we all forgotten the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights? This verdict has just dealt a severe blow to religious freedom. In the seventeenth century, people came from England to settle in what is now America in the name of religious freedom. It's unfortunate that there's nowhere the FLDS can go to escape the disapproval of their neighbors.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the FLDS want to move somewhere where 12 year olds are routinely married to older men, so there is no cultural bias ? We don't do that here. You will be arrested.
ReplyDeleteGOOD point, why don't they?
ReplyDeleteIn response to Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteThis verdict is not a prosecution of religious freedom, it is the prosecution of violations of the law. I don't believe anyone actually cares what the religious beliefs are, however sexual contact with minors regardless of perceived consent is illegal. From what I have read, the abuses that have occurred to both the female and male children is captured under what is defined as child abuse (neglect, abandonment, etc).
I don't want to start a flame war, but the notion of separation of church and state is a misnomer. You are free to practice your religious beliefs provided they do not violate the law (local, state, and federal). If you actually read the Constitution, it is evident that our Founding Fathers did not necessarily intend a stringent separation of these factions.
To use an extreme example (again not intending to start a war here): look at those that practice Wicca. Perhaps one would not care about goddesses, spirits, and midnight bonfires. However, there are some sects of this religion that believe in the requirement of ritualistic sacrifice. If a sect began performing human sacrifices, well......would one care then or would you still stand by and say they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs?
Jury listened to the "ordinances of celestial marriages" whom jeffs ex wife (flora? they didnt give names) put into context for jurors.
ReplyDeleteThey, the jurors, are hearing more of that - celestial ordinances and beds with pews and adult witnesses to child bride sex acts. They were shown beds as evidence. One bed has a pew all around the bed the other is a "murphy" -- I am going to assume they mean Murhpy as in a pull out wally type of bed but I could have heard it wrong --bed. Sex would take place on these beds in front of witnesses...with the children the 12 year old child bride.
Opening defense sticking by their original poor warren was groomed and brainwashed himself so how can he be held accountable.
Jeffs leaves in protestes jeffs ordered to remain while lawyers take over again.
Jurors still going over evidence
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52333586-75/jeffs-evidence-flds-girls.html.csp
ReplyDeletePsychologists say jeffs groomed girls prior to sex abuse
Prophet my foot he is a pedo no more no less
I so happy that Rebecca in a way got to return the favor, point at him and tell him exactly what he told her.
ReplyDeleteMusser said that after Rulon Jeffs died, Warren Jeffs pressured his
father’s many wives to marry other men, himself included. Musser
refused, which elicited an angry response, she said.
“He pointed
his finger right at me,” she testified, “and said — and I will quote —
‘I will break you. I will train you to be a good wife. You’ve had too
much freedom for too long.’ “
Ok, I'm learning, from my writers!! Didn't T tell me that Musser was from the BC group?
ReplyDelete**How come girls all over the country get married at 14 and have babies, and if their parents sign, it's just fine.**
ReplyDeleteIt's not happening all over the country. The age of consent, which is the lowest age a parent can sign for their child to get married, is 16-18, depending on the state. Personally, I think it should be 18. As Snowflake said, if she's not old enough to vote, she's not old enough to get married.
AMEN to that!
ReplyDeleteEsther Ruth, you still around? Why do all these Hannah,s Miley's, and Esther's come, gripe, and then won't talk when questioned?
ReplyDeleteI have to jump in on the comment about ritualistic sacrifice and Wicca. Many of my friends are Wiccan, neo-pagan, Asatru, etc. Ritualistic sacrifice involving the killing of anything is NOT, NOT, NOT, and I repeat, NOT, part of any of the aforementioned religions.
ReplyDeleteI will not enter into a discussion of Santaria, Yoruba or Voudou; they are not neo-pagan and have strong Christian aspects.
I will use the Wiccan religion as my example since the commenter did. This is an earth-based religion that believes God/Goddess created and is present in all creation. To kill anything that God/Goddess created, mutilate it and then have the nerve to offer it back to God/Goddess as somehow a worthy gift is to perform a presumptuous, blasphemous, offensive act that invites retribution from God/Goddess (or any specific God/Goddess). I don't think I explained that in a Wiccan theologically correct way, but you get my drift.
If a specific person or group uses the name of an earth-based neo-pagan religion to justify such heinous acts they are lying liars who lie and deserve to be prosecuted. But they aren't Wiccans, pagans, neo-pagans, etc.
And, just to be clear, I also believe that religion should not be used to justify violating the rights of others - and hope I live to see the day when it isn't.