SOS
09-01-2006, 05:30 AM
The Arizona Republic (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0901jeffs0901.html)
Jeffs will be returned to Utah for trial
Staff and wire reports
Sept. 1, 2006 12:00 AM
Polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs will not fight extradition and could be in Utah within days to face charges of **** as an accomplice for arranging marriages between underage girls and older men.
Jeffs, 50, appeared Thursday before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace James Bixler. It was the first time the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has been seen publicly since he disappeared 14 months ago following his indictment in Arizona on charges related to arranging marriages between young girls and older men.
When Bixler asked Jeffs what he wanted to do, Jeffs said, almost inaudibly, "Go ahead and be extradited."
Jeffs will be jailed at the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, Utah.
He faces life in prison if convicted in Utah.
Jeffs oversees a Mormon offshoot with as many as 10,000 members.
In 1890, the FLDS broke away from the mainstream Mormon religion, which prohibits polygamy. The FLDS is not affiliated with the Mormon Church.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, who along with other authorities has been dogging Jeffs and the polygamous group for years, said he watched in "astonishment" Thursday as coverage showed Jeffs in court without an attorney.
"This is a guy who's always had the best legal representation and probably will soon," Goddard said.
Jeffs was arrested Monday during a traffic stop near Las Vegas. In a 2007 Cadillac Escalade that Jeffs, a brother and a wife were riding in, authorities found three wigs, 15 cellphones, several laptops and $54,000.
Gary Engels, an investigator with the Mohave County Attorney's Office, surmised Jeffs may have picked up the money just before his arrest.
"I have no doubt they had couriers running money to him," Engels said.
Engels had seen only photo and video images of Jeffs before Thursday's court hearing.
"He looked very thin, very gaunt," Engels said. "He looked like a man who's been on the run."
Authorities conferred at length before deciding that Utah's Washington County should be the first to pursue its case against Jeffs, Goddard said.
Bail was a main issue in the decision, Goddard said. The two charges Jeffs faces in Utah are Class 1 felonies, under which bail can be denied if there is a flight risk.
The charges in Mohave County, sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor, are Class 6 felonies that require bail to be offered.
"We all feel he is an imminent flight risk, that he has almost unlimited resources to pay a bond and would then disappear," Goddard said.
Staff reporter Jon Kamman and the Associated Press contributed to this article.
Jeffs will be returned to Utah for trial
Staff and wire reports
Sept. 1, 2006 12:00 AM
Polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs will not fight extradition and could be in Utah within days to face charges of **** as an accomplice for arranging marriages between underage girls and older men.
Jeffs, 50, appeared Thursday before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace James Bixler. It was the first time the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has been seen publicly since he disappeared 14 months ago following his indictment in Arizona on charges related to arranging marriages between young girls and older men.
When Bixler asked Jeffs what he wanted to do, Jeffs said, almost inaudibly, "Go ahead and be extradited."
Jeffs will be jailed at the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, Utah.
He faces life in prison if convicted in Utah.
Jeffs oversees a Mormon offshoot with as many as 10,000 members.
In 1890, the FLDS broke away from the mainstream Mormon religion, which prohibits polygamy. The FLDS is not affiliated with the Mormon Church.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, who along with other authorities has been dogging Jeffs and the polygamous group for years, said he watched in "astonishment" Thursday as coverage showed Jeffs in court without an attorney.
"This is a guy who's always had the best legal representation and probably will soon," Goddard said.
Jeffs was arrested Monday during a traffic stop near Las Vegas. In a 2007 Cadillac Escalade that Jeffs, a brother and a wife were riding in, authorities found three wigs, 15 cellphones, several laptops and $54,000.
Gary Engels, an investigator with the Mohave County Attorney's Office, surmised Jeffs may have picked up the money just before his arrest.
"I have no doubt they had couriers running money to him," Engels said.
Engels had seen only photo and video images of Jeffs before Thursday's court hearing.
"He looked very thin, very gaunt," Engels said. "He looked like a man who's been on the run."
Authorities conferred at length before deciding that Utah's Washington County should be the first to pursue its case against Jeffs, Goddard said.
Bail was a main issue in the decision, Goddard said. The two charges Jeffs faces in Utah are Class 1 felonies, under which bail can be denied if there is a flight risk.
The charges in Mohave County, sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor, are Class 6 felonies that require bail to be offered.
"We all feel he is an imminent flight risk, that he has almost unlimited resources to pay a bond and would then disappear," Goddard said.
Staff reporter Jon Kamman and the Associated Press contributed to this article.