THE state will argue Warren Jeffs is one of the most dangerous men in the U.S., while his defence will claim he is a man of God.
Jurors in St. George, Utah, will have to determine over the next two weeks whether the prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is guilty of two counts of being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl.
Warren Jeffs, left, during a court hearing in Utah. Jeffs faces two charges of rape as an accomplice.
He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Jeffs is the prophet of the 15,000-member church that includes about 600 adherents in Bountiful, British Columbia.
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) is the largest polygamous group in North America, although it represents fewer than half the estimated number of fundamentalist Mormon polygamists in the state of Utah alone.
Fundamentalist Mormons broke away from the church in 1890, when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints renounced polygamy. The principle of plural marriage was set out by Mormonism's founder Joseph Smith as a direct order from God and it remains in the mainstream church's holy book, The Doctrines and Covenants.
Jeffs's trial promises to be sensational. The 51-year-old "prophet" was a fugitive for 15 months. He was arrested last August after 114 days on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.
In addition to the Utah charges, an Arizona grand jury has indicted Jeffs on charges of sexual conduct with a minor, conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
Aside from the prurient interest in a bizarre story of the forced marriage of a 14-year-old to her 19-year-old first cousin that took place within the closed, polygamous community in Mormon-dominated Utah, there is a serious question about religious freedom.
Jeffs counselled the newlyweds to multiply and replenish the Earth. If he's found guilty, could any priest, minister, rabbi or imam be accused of counselling rape if he urges couples to go forth and multiple?
Polygamy is not at issue in this case. The religious marriage of the 14-year-old to her 19-year-old cousin was a first marriage for both of them.
What is at issue is Jeffs's spiritual and temporal control. Jurors will hear testimony about how Jeffs determines who will marry because -- supposedly -- he is in direct contact with God, who reveals to him who is predestined to marry. So to reject an assigned marriage is to go against the will of God.
The court will hear how the prophet determines where people live because virtually all of the land in the twin towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz. (as well as Bountiful) is owned by a church trust. And how he demands unquestioning obedience.
Utah Attorney-General Mark Shurtleff has compared the FLDS to the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Jeffs became prophet after his father's death in 2002. Since then, Jeffs has excommunicated more than 100 men, stripping them of their wives and children who were later reassigned to men loyal to him. Even though he was a fugitive for 15 months, he has overseen construction of new communities in Eldorado, Texas, Pringle, S.D., and Mancos, Colo. He banned school, the colour red and even the word 'fun.' Television, rock music, short-sleeved shirts for men and trousers for women are also banned.
Utah's star witness is now nearly 21 and the mother of two children; the second child was born less than two weeks after she testified at Jeffs's preliminary hearing last November.
Called MJ by the court, she told Judge James Shumate how she had been shocked to learn that at 14 she had been assigned to marry her 19-year-old first cousin, who had bullied and taunted her. She begged her stepfather to intervene. She wanted time to grow up. Her stepfather refused, saying it was God's will.
Under Utah law it is illegal for a 14-year-old to marry without parental consent and for first cousins to marry unless the parties are 65 and older or 55 and older and unable to reproduce.
Three times, MJ refused to say her vows. Finally, Jeffs insisted that her mother stand beside her. After a long silence MJ reluctantly said 'I do.'
The marriage was consummated a month later, but that was only after the groom had exposed his penis to her in a public park and only after Jeffs had insisted that the husband, who has never been charged with rape, have sex with his child bride.
The prosecutor will argue it was Jeffs's insistence that the groom have sex with MJ that constitutes the charge of accomplice to the first rape in 2001 and to another rape two years later after MJ had a miscarriage while visiting her sister in Bountiful.
Jeffs's lawyers will argue Jeffs is a victim of religious persecution.
Walter Bugden says the case against his client is "nothing less than the state of Utah condemning a culturally different religion... Officiating at a wedding ceremony does not make Mr. Jeffs an accomplice to rape."
One of their strategies is to discredit the witness. Unlike in Canada, MJ's sexual history is not off limits.
-- CanWest News Service
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