Four incest charges against Jeffs dropped
 
Staff and Wire Reports
Today's News Herald - Havasu City, Arizona
 
Mohave County Superior Court Judge Steven Conn dropped four of the eight charges against polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs at the request of the defense on Wednesday, finding that a state incest law does not apply to the marriages of two teenage girls and their older male relatives.

Conn ruled the law only applies if both participants in the sexual activity are older than 18, and that the law does not apply to half cousins. In both of the marriages Jeffs is accused of arranging, the girls were under 18 and half cousins to their husbands. He was charged with incest as an accomplice.

Prosecutors said the law could lead to absurd results, such as an uncle having sex with two nieces, one younger and one older than 18, and being subject to harsher punishment for his conduct with the older one.

In the charges against Warren Jeffs, Conn said the statute’s language was clear and unambiguous, leaving no room for interpretation.

"We’re obviously very pleased with the court’s ruling," Jeffs’ attorney, Mike Piccarreta, told The Associated Press. "You can see we’ve chopped these things down considerably."

In his ruling, Conn wrote that Arizona’s incest law initially was enacted without reference to participants’ ages. In 1985, it was amended to apply only to people who were 15 years or older, and in 1998, it was changed to its present form, applying only to those 18 years or older.

Conn also wrote that because the incest law specifically mentions half brothers and sisters, it arguably excludes all other relationships of the half blood by not mentioning them.

Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith, the prosecutor in the Arizona case against Jeffs, reportedly had no comment.

Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson said Judge Conn "has a history of ignoring punishment" regarding state sex offense cases and "that sends a message that it is okay to commit such crimes."

"Judge Conn has lost his reputation of being a hangman judge and facilitates abuse through lenient sentences for convicted sex offenders," Johnson said.

Johnson added, in regards to this judge, the crime of drunk driving is more punishable than are the crimes of sexual abuse or even rape. And if Jeffs is not convicted of his two outstanding charges in Arizona, Johnson hopes that the Mohave County Attorney’s Office would step in to appeal the decision.

Jeffs, who was already prosecuted in Utah, is still charged in Arizona as an accomplice with four counts of sexual conduct with a minor stemming from the marriages of the two girls.

Last week, investigators at the Texas attorney general’s office requested and collected DNA samples from Jeffs. The samples are being used in an ongoing criminal investigation that could tie Jeffs to sex with four underage girls who are between the ages of 12 and 15 years old from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Texas.

The 440 children seized from the ranch in April were reunited with their parents Wednesday, Child Protective Services spokesman Patrick Crimmins said.

Jeffs, 52 was named president and is the self-proclaimed "prophet" of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 2002. Members of the church live in the twin border towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hilldale, Utah.

Jeffs was convicted last year in Utah of rape as an accomplice in the arranged marriage of a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin. He was sentenced to two terms of five years to life in prison.

Jeffs remains jailed in Kingman as he awaits his Arizona trial. Not date has been set.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
 
HavasuNews.com
Originally published Saturday, June 7, 2008
 
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