By Daphne Bramham
Canada.com
September 10, 2007
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=945d83c4-53f9-44e8-ac30-3524245da562&k=94300
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Polygamist sect leader Warren Steed Jeffs is escorted by a SWAT officer during an extradition hearing in Las Vegas last year. Photo by Reuters |
ST. GEORGE, Utah — Jury selection for the trial of Warren Jeffs — one of America's 10 Most Wanted — has entered its second phase.
Eleven of the 230 potential jurors were interviewed in Judge James Shumate's chambers Monday by lawyers for the state and for Jeffs, the so-called prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Jeffs is charged in Utah with two counts as an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl. Jeffs is alleged to have forced the girl to marry her 19-year-old first cousin and then counselled the husband to impregnate her. The maximum penalty for the conspiracy charge is life in prison.
Jeffs has also been charged in Arizona with six sex-related counts and he faces two federal counts of unlawful flight from prosecution.
Jeffs and his 15,000 or so followers — including about 600 in Bountiful, B.C. — believe that a man requires multiple wives to enter the highest realm of heaven. They believe the prophet arranges the marriages after receiving a revelation from God about who is to marry whom.
Part of the reason that the judge is taking such extraordinary lengths to find jurors is that he earlier denied a defence motion to have the trial moved to Salt Lake City. Lawyers for Jeffs argued that it would be impossible to find eight jurors and four alternates in this county, which is home to the FLDS stronghold of Hildale and its twin town, Colorado City, Ariz.
The FLDS claim to be the only true Mormons since the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints discontinued the earthly practice of polygamy in 1890.
Aside from the FLDS, the majority of Washington County residents are members of the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
To screen out any people with biases or conflicts from the original pool of 300, the lawyers compiled a 17-page questionnaire. Seventy people were excused from serving on the jury on Friday even before they filled out the questionnaire.
On Monday morning, another 19 were excluded based on their responses to the questionnaire that asked things like: Are you a practicing member of the LDS? Do you have any religious beliefs, moral feelings, political views or philosophical principles that would interfere with your ability to serve as a juror? Do you have strong feelings towards the government as a whole or towards any branch of the government?
The remainder will be interviewed; another group of 40 were scheduled to appear at the courthouse Monday afternoon.
Journalists were allowed to sit in on the interviews on a rotational basis, but are not allowed to report on what happened.
Jeffs' three lawyers were there along with three lawyers from the prosecutor's office and two other sheriffs.
People were brought in one at a time.
The trial had been scheduled to begin as early as Wednesday, but it now appears that the jury will not be impanelled that quickly.
dbramham@png.canwest.com
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