Utah sect leader gets 10 to Life for being accomplice to rape

bodymassindicator · 11-21-2007, 12:58 AM

Quote:

(CNN) -- A Utah judge Tuesday sentenced polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs to consecutive prison terms of five years to life for his conviction on two counts of being an accomplice to rape, a court spokeswoman said.

The consecutive sentences mean he will serve at least 10 years. The exact amount of time he serves will be determined by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole in the future.

He was also fined $18,500 for each count.

Jeffs, 51, was convicted in September. He was accused of using his religious influence over his followers to coerce a 14-year-old girl into marriage to her 19-year-old cousin.

Jeffs is the "prophet" of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS.

The girl, Elissa Wall, now 21, testified that she repeatedly told Jeffs at the time that she did not want to be married and was uncomfortable with sexual advances from her husband, Allen Steed.

Jeffs advised her to pray and to submit to her husband, learn to love him and bear his children -- or risk losing her "eternal salvation," the woman testified.

Wall's attorneys made her name public at the end of the trial, with her consent. She is married to someone else and has left the FLDS.

She and Steed exchanged vows in 2001 before Jeffs at a motel near Las Vegas, Nevada, where many arranged FLDS marriages take place. He gave them the usual blessing.

"Warren Jeffs told them to go forward and multiply and replenish the Earth, and that is why that man is an accomplice to rape," prosecutor Brock Belnap said during the trial.

Prosecutors called three witnesses during their case, while the defense called nearly a dozen, including the spurned husband and other FLDS couples who were happy in their arranged marriages. Testimony lasted just under two weeks.

Two weeks ago, the trial judge unsealed court documents indicating that Jeffs tried to hang himself while he was awaiting trial in January.

The documents, released by Fifth District Judge James Shumate at the request of the media, also indicated that Jeffs confessed to "immorality" with a "sister" and a daughter more than 30 years ago.

Jeffs' attorneys said in a motion opposing the unsealing of the statements that their client recanted them the following month. Defense attorneys claim Jeffs' medical condition influenced his state of mind when he made those statements.

Members of the FLDS, based in the side-by-side border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, openly practice polygamy. Jeffs, who is considered a prophet by his followers, has led the 10,000-member sect since his father's death in 2002. The FLDS is not affiliated with the mainstream Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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He has drawn critical attention to the FLDS by allegedly arranging marriages to girls as young as 13, exiling male teens and young men to reduce competition for brides, and reassigning the wives and children of excommunicated male followers.

Jeffs, who was once on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, was captured in Nevada in August 2006 after two years on the run. In addition to the Utah charges, he also faces multiple counts in Arizona of being an accomplice to incest and sex with minors.

Personally, I think the guy is scum and I am always happy when religious bigots like him get busted, but do you think the punishment fits the crime? Basically he got convicted to serve a minimum of 10 years in prison for telling a girl to "multiply and replenish the earth". Harsh or justified?

bodymassindicator · 11-21-2007, 01:07 AM

She looks indeed very young for someone being told to have sex with her cousin.

retired_nini59 · 11-21-2007, 01:08 AM

I'm not sure, if it had nothing to do with 'religion' but you scared a 14 year old girl into having sex with someone, then what kind of penalty would/should you get?

At first I thought it sounded harsh, but after thinking about it I think it might well be justified, if a teacher or doctor or parent did the same thing, and told them that something bad would happen if they didn't do it then they'd probably get a similar sentence.

Was the husband sentenced at all? or is he seen as a victim?

alidog · 11-21-2007, 01:10 AM

Whilst he's obviously a nutter and a danger to society, she's got to take most of the blame for being a weak-willed simpleton. "You must marry this man and bear his children" - "Oh, OK then".

OK, she was only 14 so you've got to make allowances for that but still even at 14 she should be able to figure out that she should have some choice over who she marries. And to then marry him, have sex with him and then cry rape? Hmm. Not like he jumped her in a dark ally is it.

retired_v_meenucancer · 11-21-2007, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by cliff7197:
Whilst he's obviously a nutter and a danger to society, she's got to take most of the blame for being a weak-willed simpleton. "You must marry this man and bear his children" - "Oh, OK then".

OK, she was only 14 so you've got to make allowances for that but still even at 14 she should be able to figure out that she should have some choice over who she marries. And to then marry him, have sex with him and then cry rape? Hmm. Not like he jumped her in a dark ally is it.

eh? the guy was the leader and "prophet" on her church, that presumably she'd grown up in, and he told her she was risking going to hell if she didn't

not crying rape at all ffs

retired_kimmymarlo · 11-21-2007, 01:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by cliff7197:
Whilst he's obviously a nutter and a danger to society, she's got to take most of the blame for being a weak-willed simpleton. "You must marry this man and bear his children" - "Oh, OK then".

OK, she was only 14 so you've got to make allowances for that but still even at 14 she should be able to figure out that she should have some choice over who she marries. And to then marry him, have sex with him and then cry rape? Hmm. Not like he jumped her in a dark ally is it.

you fail.

retired_nini59 · 11-21-2007, 01:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by cliff7197:
Whilst he's obviously a nutter and a danger to society, she's got to take most of the blame for being a weak-willed simpleton. "You must marry this man and bear his children" - "Oh, OK then".

OK, she was only 14 so you've got to make allowances for that but still even at 14 she should be able to figure out that she should have some choice over who she marries. And to then marry him, have sex with him and then cry rape? Hmm. Not like he jumped her in a dark ally is it.

you do know that there's a reason 14 year olds aren't allowed consensual sex don't you? then add on the fact that she didn't really consent to this at all, she was practically forced.