Polygamist Jeffs Appeals 2007 Utah Conviction
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Lawyers for polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs want the Utah Supreme Court to reverse his 2007 criminal conviction and clear the way for a new trial.
The appeal filed Nov. 26 sites improper jury instructions, the substitution of a juror and other trial errors that warrant a rehearing of the case.
The Utah attorney general’s office has 60 days to respond.
Jeffs, the head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was convicted of two counts of accomplice rape.
The charges stemmed from a 2001 religious marriage between a then-14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.
Jeffs was sentenced to two consecutive prison terms of five years to life.
He’s jailed in Arizona awaiting trial on charges related to other underage marriages. He also faces multiple felony indictments in West Texas for sexual assault of a child and bigamy.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
