| Four counts dropped in Jeffs case | |
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By JIM SECKLER Mohave Daily News | |
KINGMAN - A Mohave County Superior Court judge dismissed four of the eight felony counts against Warren Steed Jeffs, the jailed prophet of the polygamist sect in Colorado City. Superior Court Judge Steven Conn ruled on a motion filed by Jeffs' attorney, Michael Piccarreta. The defense motion argued that under Arizona statute, incest applies to those 18-years-old and older. The two victims were under 18 at the time of the alleged crimes. The defense also argued that the victims were first cousins from half blood, not full blood. Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith argued as absurd that a man could be subjected to harsher penalties for having sex with a relative older than 18, compared to a girl younger than 18. Smith could not reached for comment on Conn's ruling. Conn ruled that the law is clear, requiring both parties in an act of incest to be 18 years or older. "Both participants in the alleged sexual activity were not more than the age of 18," Conn ruled. The judge also ruled that the crime of incest cannot be committed by first cousins of the half blood, saying "the statute does not apply to first cousins of the half blood." Jeffs, 52, the prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is still charged in two 2007 cases involving two underage victims. He is charged with four counts of sexual conduct with a minor. The first case charges him with two counts of sexual conduct with a minor involving an underage girl between May 1 and June 30, 2002 and between Aug. 15 and Sept. 15, 2002. The second case also charges him with two counts of sexual conduct with a minor involving another underage girl on Aug. 31, 2003, and in September 2003. Jeffs allegedly arranged marriages between older men and their teenage relatives. Smith previously dropped one 2005 charge of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor because the witness would not testify at Jeffs' trial. The prosecutor also dropped five felony charges in two other 2005 cases, including four counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. Jeffs was convicted last year in St. George, Utah, of two counts of rape as an accomplice and was sentenced in November to 10 years in a Utah prison. For the other charges, he faces a maximum of two years in prison if convicted. Jeffs also could be eligible for probation. | |
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MohaveDailyNews.com Originally published Wednesday, June 4, 2008 | |
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