Jeffs' Attorneys Ask for Dismissal of Charges, Venue Change, KSL, March 6, 2007

Jeffs' Attorneys Ask for Dismissal of Charges, Venue Change

KSL
March 6, 2007

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=960835

Salt Lake City (AP) — Attorneys for polygamist leader Warren Jeffs are seeking to have charges against him dismissed. If that doesn't hapen, they want to see his trial moved to Salt Lake County. That's according to motions his attorneys filed today.

Jeffs, 51, is president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a sect of almost 10,000 who practice polygamy in arranged marriages. Jeffs is facing an April trial on state felony charges of rape as an accomplice for arranging and performing a 2001 marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her adult cousin.

In the motion to dismiss the charges, Jeffs' attorneys say prosecutors failed to prove during a preliminary hearing last year that Jeffs was aware that the girl objected to having sex with her husband.

On Tuesday, Jeffs' attorneys also filed for a change of venue. Most members of the FLDS church live in the twin cities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah. Hildale is in Washington County, where Jeffs is being jailed and the trial is scheduled. The motion cites "the nature of the community in Washington County" along with the seriousness of the offense as reasons Jeff's trial should be moved.

Jeffs is also facing felony charges in Mohave County, Ariz., for other arranged marriages. He's expected to be extradited there following the Utah case.