Guilty Verdict In Jeffs Trial
ST. GEORGE, UT. (AP) – The leader of a polygamous sect has been convicted of being an accomplice to rape for performing a marriage between a 19-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl.
Warren Jeffs could get life in prison after a trial that threw a spotlight on a renegade community along the Arizona-Utah line. Jeffs is president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Prosecutors say Jeffs forced the girl into marriage and sex against her will.
Church members believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven. It has roughly 10,000 members in the twin towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. The church also has a large retreat development in the West Texas town of Eldorado. The Jeffs group broke away from the Mormon church, which disavowed polygamy in 1890.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
