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  Attorney Objects to Teen Bride's Book, Tour

Associated Press, carried in Arizona Republic
May 14, 2008

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/05/14/20080514teen-bride0514-ON.html

SALT LAKE CITY - A book and promotional tour by the teen bride who helped convict Warren Jeffs could spoil the jury pool in a criminal case against her former husband, his attorney said.

Elissa Wall's book, Stolen Innocence, was released Tuesday by publisher William Morrow. It chronicles her life, including her time with cousin Allen Steed, whom she describes as having a violent temper and a "calculating and controlling" personality.

Steed is charged with raping Wall during their relationship, which was arranged in 2001 by leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a sect that practices polygamy and arranged marriage.

Wall, who was 14 at the time, said she was forced into sex with Steed, who was 19.

"Ms. Wall needs to specifically understand that her conduct may compromise Mr. Steed's ability to obtain a fair trial and that she may have to make some choices regarding her quest for publicity and her desire to have Mr. Steed prosecuted," defense attorney Jim Bradshaw said last week in a letter to Washington County prosecutors.

Wall, now 21, was the key witness last year in the trial that sent Jeffs to prison for rape as an accomplice. She claimed he refused to release her from the relationship.

Steed, 27, testified for Jeffs and was charged with rape a day after the FLDS leader was convicted in 5th District Court in St. George, 300 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Bradshaw's letter says professional rules of conduct prohibit out-of-court statements by attorneys and others associated with a prosecutor's office if the comments might prejudice a case.

Wall's book and media tour - "a troubling set of events" - will "consistently include a narrative by her in which she recounts her version of the facts of our pending case," Bradshaw said.

He believes authorities have the "ability and indeed the obligation" to control the situation.

"I would ask you to consider what would have been the response if Ms. Wall had written a book and gone on the publicity tour before the Jeffs trial," Bradshaw wrote. "I believe there would have been great outrage about her compromising the integrity of that process."

A telephone message seeking comment from Washington County prosecutors was not immediately returned Wednesday. Wall's attorney, Roger Hoole, was unavailable for comment.

Steed has said he never forced Wall to have sex.

Bradshaw has said the international publicity from the Jeffs trial would hinder the judge's ability to find a fair jury in Steed's case.

A raid on an FLDS ranch in Texas last month further complicates the issue, he said. Texas authorities have placed more than 460 children in state custody pending an investigation of child abuse.

Wall was granted an FLDS divorce from Steed and left the church in 2004 after she became pregnant with another man's child. She is married and has two children.

Steed, still a member of the church, could spend his life in prison if convicted.

Jeffs, 52, remains the prophet of the FLDS church, despite his imprisonment. He is in a Kingman, Ariz., jail, awaiting two trials on accomplice charges of incest and sexual misconduct.

 
 

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