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Polygamist Sect Leader Gets Consecutive Sentences

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Los Angeles Times

Published: November 21, 2007

ST. GEORGE, Utah - Warren Jeffs, the leader of a polygamous sect, could spend the rest of his life in prison after he was sentenced Tuesday for being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old follower who was ordered to marry her cousin.

Jeffs, head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was convicted in September of two counts of rape in the arranged marriage of the woman, now 21, to her then-19-year-old relative.

Each count carries a sentence of five years to life in prison. The amount of time Jeffs will serve will be decided by state parole officials.

Under Utah's sentencing laws, the main drama Tuesday was whether Judge James Shumate would require Jeffs to serve the sentences at the same time or back-to-back. Shumate chose the tougher option, sentencing the former fugitive to consecutive sentences.

Jeffs became the leader or prophet of the church in 2002 when his father, Rulon, died. The church practices polygamy in arranged marriages, and most church followers live in twin cities along the Arizona border with Colorado, about 350 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

The church is not affiliated with the mainstream Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

"There needs to be a message to be sent to anyone in a similar position that you cannot hide behind your position as a religious leader," prosecutor Ryan Shaum said of the sentences.

Jeffs declined to speak at the sentencing. He faces incest and child molestation charges in Arizona and federal flight charges.

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