Polygamist leader pleads not guilty, will be tried on charges of forcing girl to marry adult

Thursday, December 14th 2006, 5:59 am

By: News On 6

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) _ A polygamist church leader accused of forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry an older cousin in 2001 was ordered Thursday to stand trial on charges of rape by accomplice.

Warren Jeffs, 51, pleaded not guilty Thursday in state district court. The leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints could face up to life in prison if convicted. A trial was set for April 23.

Prosecutors said the girl had no choice but to obey Jeffs, whose influence over his followers has been described as extraordinary, dictating everything from where they live to whom they should marry.

The girl ``expressed her disdain, reluctance, opposition and total dislike of sexual relations,'' Judge James Shumate said.

The woman, now 20, was not in the courtroom to hear Shumate's decision. She testified last month that she felt ``completely trapped and defeated'' during a ceremony at a Nevada motel _ the ``darkest time of my entire life.''

The woman, identified as Jane Doe No. 4, left the sect after 3 1/2 years, remarried and had a baby last week.

Outside court, her attorney Roger Hoole said she was pleased with and relieved by the ruling.

Jeffs' defense team contends he is being pursued for his religious beliefs.

In his closing argument, defense attorney Wally Bugden told Shumate he would be making a ``factual leap'' to find probable cause for a trial.

``Saying I don't want to get married is not the same as saying I don't want to have intercourse,'' Bugden said.

Prosecutors said Jeffs, who performed the wedding ceremony, was responsible for any trauma because he counseled her to submit to her husband, ``mind, body and soul.''

The girl and her cousin united in an FLDS religious ceremony but never held a valid marriage license. The cousin has not been charged.

Jeffs also faces felony charges in Arizona, accused there of arranging a marriage between a 16-year-old-girl and a 28-year-old man, who was already married.

Jeffs, at the time one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted fugitives, was arrested Aug. 28 in a traffic stop north of Las Vegas. He is being held without bail.

Jeffs' sect traces its roots to early Mormon theology, which promoted plural marriage. The modern Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints disavows polygamy and renounced the practice in 1890 as a condition of Utah statehood.

FLDS members, however, consider themselves ``fundamentalist Mormons'' who continue to believe polygamy will bring glory in heaven. They also consider Jeffs a prophet of God with dominion over their salvation.

The church has 10,000 members mostly living in Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, on the Utah-Arizona border.