Polygamist sect leader facing life sentence over child marriages
The case stemmed from two young followers he took as brides in what his church calls “spiritual marriages”.
The head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints stood stone-faced as the verdict was read out in the Texas court.
Jeffs, who acted as his own lawyer, stood mostly mute for his closing argument, staring at the floor, for all but a few seconds of the half hour he was allotted. At one point he mumbled: “I am at peace,” and said no more.
Jeffs, 55, had claimed his religious rights were being trampled on and that God would seek revenge if the trial continued.
The sentencing phase of the trial began after the verdict was announced, and could take three days.
Prosecutors used DNA evidence to show Jeffs fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl and played an audio recording of what they said was him sexually assaulting a 12-year-old.
They also played audio recordings in which Jeffs was heard instructing young women on how to please him sexually.
His church, which has at least 10,000 members, is a radical offshoot of Mormonism and believes polygamy brings exaltation in heaven. They see Jeffs as God’s spokesman on earth.
Police raided the group’s remote west Texas ranch in April 2008, finding women dressed in frontier-style dresses and hairdos from the 19th century as well as pregnant underage girls.
The call to an abuse hotline that sparked the raid turned out to be a hoax and more than 400 children were eventually returned to their families. Authorities brought charges against several men from the group.
As the sentencing phase began, prosecutors told jurors they would present evidence that Jeffs had 78 wives, in addition to his legal spouse, and that 24 of them were under 17.
Lead prosecutor Eric Nichols also said he would show Jeffs either witnessed or performed hundreds of polygamist marriages, including 67 church marriages involving underage girls.
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