For all the hoopla surrounding the 2008 raid on the Yearning for Zion ranch, there has been little coverage of this trial that resulted from it.
After years of being on the FBI's Most Wanted list, FLDs leader Warren Jeffs went to trial last week on charges of sexual assault, and may receive a life sentence if found guilty.
Yet we are told very little about the trial by national media. The information presented here will be largely based on local publications, leaning heavily on the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune (whose coverage I recommend.)
It's been a long road from the 2008 raid to this week's trial. The Salt Lake Tribune offers this excellent recap of events. Some hilites:
- Jeffs took over as leader of the FLDs in 2002, after the death of his father. His succession was controversial in the group.
- In 2006, Jeffs was captured after two years as a fugitive from justice. He was found riding in a red Cadillac with his favorite wife, and big wad of cash, wigs and disguises and some other evidence that has since been used in the trial.
- In January 2007, Jeffs renounced his role as prophet after a self-imposed fast and long hours of prayer. He called himself "a wicked man," chose a new leader for the group, and then attempted suicide. When he survived the suicide attempt, he had a change of heart, recanted his previous self-denunciation, and resumed control of the group.
- Jeffs was extradited to Texas in 2010. In January 2011, while in jail, he excommunicated most of the current FLDs leadership, communicating with them by phone from his cell. The excommunicated men were ordered to leave their families behind and banished from the community. By March 2011, William E. Jessop had emerged as a rival for control of the group.
- In July 2011, just weeks before his scheduled trial, Jeffs abruptly fired his attorneys.
It was not the first time Jeffs dismissed his legal team. In all, Jeffs has fired 7 attorneys in 6 months, according to ABC News. The prosecution claimed that this was a stalling tactic because each new legal team would petition the judge for a postponement of the trial in order to get their defense up to speed.
In the end, Jeffs declared he would simply respresent himself. He kept claiming in court that he needed a "pure defense" that ordinary attorneys couldn't provide.
It was never clear what constituted that "pure defense" in Jeffs' mind. Jurors, reporters and court officials were left to decipher that from Jeffs' rather odd behavior in the courtroom.
On the first day of the trial, Jeffs declined to make an opening statement and sat silent and apathetic while the prosecution called one, then two, then 3, 4 and 5 witnesses. Finally Judge Walther prodded him:
"You've sat here now for an hour and not said a word," Walther said at one point, then added his continued ignoring of the proceedings could have "a very bad result."
This article in the Deseret News speculates that Jeffs' silence might have been an expression of his personal teachings to the FLDs:
Whether Jeffs is using a philosophy of "answer them nothing" is unknown. As leader of the church over the years, many reported that Jeffs would instruct his followers to "answer them nothing," referring to those outside of the FLDS community.
That's also the title of a book written about Jeffs and the FLDS community.
(I personally was reminded of the reticence of Elizabeth Smart when she was first taken into custody after her long ordeal at the hands of Brian David Mitchell. She remained mute under questioning until an officer flatly asked her if she was the missing girl Elizabeth Smart. She then lifted her head and said simply, "thou sayest," in imitation of Jesus responding to Pontius Pilate as recounted in the book of Luke.)
The court might have begun to regret its prodding of Jeffs when he finally did begin to speak. He adopted a strange cadence, sometimes pausing 30-120 seconds between statements or before answering questions.
(Look at your watch and see how long it takes for one-half to two minutes to pass. That is a long, uncomfortable silence in ordinary conversation, let alone courtroom proceedings.)
Once he had decided to speak, Jeffs ordered an end to the proceedings on the grounds that God had revealed to him that Judge Walther and the others involved would be struck down by Holy Wrath. From an article in the Deseret News:
Jeffs then said he had no choice but to read a statement from God. Walther dismissed the jury and allowed him to read it.
"I, the Lord God of heaven," Jeffs read, "call upon the court to cease this open prosecution against my pure, holy way."
If the trial continues, the statement said, "I will send a scourge upon the counties of prosecutorial zeal to make humbled by sickness and death."
This is not the first time Jeffs has threatened an official with the Wrath of God. In February 2011, he sent a typed prophecy to President Obama, warning of death and destruction if the charges against him were not dropped. From ABC4:
In the revelations, God is speaking directly to "the honorable President of the United States of America." He instructs the President to "cause that the prosecutors, now cease their attack upon my servant Warren Jeffs."
He also demands "that this nation now restore to my people the consecrated land taken from them."
If President Obama doesn't comply, Jeffs, writing for God, states, "... I shall cause a great destruction in the land of Illinois, to the loss of life and to your awakening." Illinois is the President's home state.
The warning also seems to take credit for severe weather in the United States in recent years. It reads, "I shall send forth a great storm in the land crippling thy nation again, which I have been sending in increasing power since you allowed an unjust judge to confine my servant... (sic)"
The prophecy sent to the President is titled "Warning to the Nation" and consists of ten printed pages. Each paragraph is individually numbered, as in Biblical scripture. (You can see a full PDF here.) Verse 31 of this prophecy says the the following:
"But an unjust court illegally resolved to change the articles thereof to allow the taking away of my lands and houses belonging to me, saith the Lord..."
Many people don't realize that in addition to a spiritual dominion, there is an earthly empire at stake.
The FLDs land trust is currently valued at over 100 million dollars, and is the subject of continuing legal disputes. From KCSG Television:
That is a truly heavenly amount of earthly riches. In verse 38 of the prophecy, Jeffs' Lord declares what he will do in defense of his holdings, and outlines his full ambition:
"Now Receive my word and my promise of a judgement, soon to come of thy knowing, and respond; for my almighty power shall be shown as a beginning of the cleansing of my land of Zion, known to you as North America, where my New Jerusalem shall be built, and extending to South America saith the Lord..."
In this document, Jeffs (or Jeffs' God, depending how you look at it) is claiming dominion over all of North America and threatening the sovereignty of all South America as well.
Small wonder this document was sent to the President of the United States.
The scriptural tone of Jeffs' self-defense continued as he examined his sole witness, FLDs member J.D. Roundy. Roundy testified for 4-and-one-half hours under Jeffs' direction, detailing FLDs history and reading selections from religious texts. From the Deseret News:
Jeffs introduced as evidence the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, attempting to link the offshoot FLDS religion to the early history of the LDS faith. Under questioning by Jeffs, Roundy read passages of scripture evidently to demonstrate that prophets are always persecuted in their own time.
The judge and prosecutor are giving Jeffs a lot of latitude, although both have strongly questioned the relevance of his scriptural defense. One courthouse worker was overheard saying, "I'd like to see him read the part where it says it's OK to rape little girls."
As of today both sides have completed presenting their case and the decision is in the hands of the jury.
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