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	Time for Jeffs" Attorney to Mitigate the Penalty By Matthew Waller San Angelo Standard-Times August 7, 2011 http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2011/aug/07/time-for-jeffs-attorney-to-mitigate-the-penalty/ SAN ANGELO, Texas — Warren Jeffs' trial could end this week, depending on what a defense attorney chooses to do for the punishment phase of the polygamous sect leader. The prosecution said it had about two solid days of testimony when the punishment phase of Jeffs' trial started late Thursday. Earlier that day, Jeffs, 55, the leader and "prophet" of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl and of sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl. The state alleges an array of "bad acts" by Jeffs, including six instances of illegal sexual conduct and taking part in hundreds of bigamous marriages, all before running from the FBI and threatening governments with God's judgment. He also had 78 of his own "wives," the state said, including 24 to underage girls. The FLDS sanctions taking "spiritual" or "celestial" wives to circumvent bigamy laws. The jury heard testimony amid the tears of two witnesses who claimed to have been victims of Jeffs, that he allegedly abused a girl who was almost 8 and a boy who was 5 more than 20 years ago. "If I told anyone, I would burn in hell," Brett Jeffs said his uncle told him when he was allegedly raped in a bathroom while Warren Jeffs' brothers stood guard outside. Brett Jeffs filed a lawsuit against his uncle and was awarded land as a result, and he has written a book about his experience with the FLDS. Jeffs' defense attorney, Deric Walpole, told the jury he would rely on the prosecution's case to let it be seen that Jeffs was, to some degree, a product of his environment and has religious reasons for his actions. But the state has brought on witnesses to show that Jeffs changed the FLDS culture when he took over the sect from his father, especially in the sense of marrying girls at a young age. Ezra Draper, a former FLDS member who still lives in a largely FLDS-controlled community at the Arizona-Utah border, said Jeffs would teach about the end of the world and insist that girls be married as soon as they could. When Jeffs' father was in charge, women would be married at 20, Draper said, but under Jeffs' leadership they were married much younger. Carolyn Jessop, another former FLDS member, said after Jeffs took over, the girls looked to be about 14 when they were being married and it concerned her. Special prosecutor Eric Nichols asked Draper what writings holy to the FLDS faith said about underage marriage. "It's an abomination," Draper said. In previous trials of FLDS men whose indictments came from the April 2008 raid on the FLDS Yearning for Zion Ranch, the defense brought in character witnesses to argue the defendant was upstanding, polite and honest. Walpole has refused to elaborate on what he might do for Jeffs' defense. The trial is to continue at 9 a.m. today.
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