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	Fall of a 'Prophet': Records Doom Rather Than Bless By Matthew Waller San Angelo Standard-Times August 20, 2011 http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2011/aug/20/records-doom-rather-than-bless/ SAN ANGELO, Texas — Warren Jeffs left no part of his life as "prophet" unrecorded when he assumed absolute leadership of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Revelations from God, motorcycle rides, audio instructions for sexual "heavenly sessions" with multiple women, including underage girls, accounts of watching the movie "Man on Fire" as an example of the wicked ways of the world, and recommendations for getting a suntan: all were meticulously written and recorded during Jeffs' reign. And his own words doomed him. At Jeffs' aggravated sexual assault trial in state district court, former FLDS member Rebecca Musser testified to the sacredness of the records. "If it's not recorded on earth, it is not recorded in heaven," Musser told jurors. FLDS teachings hold that without that "recording in heaven," spiritual blessings won't take effect and send followers to the highest degrees of salvation. Musser pored over documents brought by Texas prosecutors who then offered them into evidence during Jeffs' trial in late July and early August. A large portion of the voluminous records — enough boxes of evidence to fill a 600-square-foot room — came from the April 2008 raid on the FLDS Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado, many of them from the temple vault. One key audio recording of the sexual assault of the 12-year-old was collected during a 2006 traffic stop in Nevada when a trooper captured Jeffs, an FBI Top Ten Most Wanted fugitive. Investigators uncovered personal dictations, or priesthood records, of Jeffs himself. "The kind of records like Warren was keeping, I can't think of a parallel," said Ken Driggs, a Georgia lawyer and FLDS expert. Prophets within the FLDS faith are believed to have revelations from God, Driggs said. In Jeffs' case, Driggs explained that almost everything Jeffs did and said may have been seen as a potential revelation from God. Jeffs went as far as recording the mundane of which movies he wanted followers to watch. One excerpt from Jeffs' dictations states: "The Lord had directed that I make sure they see the program 'Man on Fire,' a very violent, immoral show about kidnapping, where the parents of a child kidnap their own child to get money. I explained to the ladies that this is what the Lord showed me would happen against some of our Priesthood people. So we were quite late into the evening doing that." A church journal had the heading: "Naomie's Testimony of What Happened Through the Night," and included things that Jeffs said while convulsing in his sleep, such as the need to hurry on a construction project. Naomie Jeffs is believed to have been Jeffs' primary "spiritual" wife, and she was found with him when he was arrested in 2006, records and state evidence showed. "He apparently regarded them as sacred," Driggs said about the documents. "They were not for the eyes of anybody but the inner circle." Jeffs' father, Rulon Jeffs, did not record all of his doings as intensely as Jeffs did, Driggs said. At trial, prosecutors used the records to connect Jeffs, 55, to his 12- and 15-year-old victims. Records other than dictations connected Jeffs to the 12-year-old victim, and they supplemented DNA evidence that showed Jeffs fathered a child with the 15-year-old victim. The jury saw bishop's records, one family group's records and marriage records. They showed which people were in which family, when family members had received baptisms, and when they were "placed" in a "celestial" or "spiritual" marriage. The FLDS sanctions polygamous marriages, believing that polygamy was mandated by God, and for that reason split from the mainstream Mormon church in the early 1900s. Jeffs' record-keeping extended to audiotapes that jurors heard, capturing Jeffs ritualistically sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in one and giving instruction in group sex on another. Prosecutors played clips from eight and a half hours of audio recordings that were admitted as evidence during Jeffs' trial. "We seal the holy love of God in your mind and heart," Jeffs said in the recording of the assault of the 12-year-old girl. "Just loyal to you as a baby in peace from this time forth and even moment by moment, we bless you with the power of God." The words came between bouts of heavy breathing. "Warren seems to have reached the point where every thought was a potential revelation," Driggs said. In sexual assault cases, it's not unusual to use diaries or private blogs as evidence against an attacker, said Jack King, a spokesman and staff attorney with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Jeffs stands out, however, because of the sheer amount of records he kept, King said, which could rival organized crime cases. "This case is one of a kind," King said. "There were meticulous records kept. The volume is breathtaking." Juror Mary Harris was touched by the documents and recordings, especially when she heard tiny female voices speak out with an "amen" on two audio clips. Jurors asked to hear the Jeffs recording again during nearly four hours of deliberations in the guilt-or-innocence phase of the trial, after which they found him guilty of sexual assault of a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child. In the penalty phase, Jeffs' words proved equally damaging. Jurors went on to sentence him to life plus 20 years in prison — the maximum possible under Texas law. "Hearing the little voices," Harris said, " That's when the emotion really kicked in."
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