Child Rapist Warren Jeffs Found Guilty
Aug 4, 2011 7 Comments ›› Angelia
SAN ANGELO, Texas – Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, who heads a breakaway Mormon sect, was found guilty on Thursday of child sexual assault for his so-called “spiritual marriages” to two underage girls.
A west Texas jury convicted the 55-year-old Jeffs of child sexual assault and aggravated child sexual assault over his relationships with the girls, ages 12 and 14, at his sect’s Texas ranch. He faces up to 119 years in prison.
The verdict was handed down after about three hours of deliberation, and was to be followed by a sentencing phase.
Jeffs is considered the spiritual leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and has argued in loud outbursts that the Texas court was trampling on his religious rights by trying the case.
The polygamist sect, which experts estimate has 10,000 followers in North America, has been condemned by the mainstream Mormon Church and is accused of promoting marriages between older men and girls.
Assistant Texas Attorney General Eric Nichols took seven days to put together a methodical case against the self-proclaimed ‘prophet and elect of God’ of his FLDS sect, which says plural marriage is the pathway to heaven.
Among the evidence used to convict Jeffs was a picture of him passionately kissing the younger girl, and DNA evidence that he fathered a child with the 14-year-old.
Prosecutors also presented a scratchy tape recording of what they said was Jeffs raping the younger girl.
Jeffs, in what was to have been his closing argument, simply stood silently in the courtroom for more than 20 minutes before quietly saying: “I am at peace.” He then sat down.
Jeffs had represented himself after firing his attorneys. He called as a witness one of the followers of his religion and questioned him for over four hours about the Book of Mormon and FLDS beliefs concerning plural marriage.
State District Judge Barbara Walther ultimately halted Jeffs’ presentation, saying it was irrelevant to the charges.
Jeffs’ sister Elaine, who also grew up in the FLDS as the daughter of long-time church ‘prophet’ Rulon Jeffs but has left the church, wasn’t surprised by her brothers’ defense.
“He has not said one word in defense of the assault charges,” Elaine Jeffs said outside the Tom Green County Courthouse in San Angelo, where the trial was taking place.
Jeffs is also awaiting trial on a charge of bigamy, which is a felony in Texas. That case is expected in October.
