New details about marriage, victim in Jeffs case
Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap named the victim and the alleged rapist in the court papers obtained by the Deseret Morning News.
The preliminary hearing memorandum said she was 14-years-old when she was forced by Jeffs to have sex with a 19-year-old man who was also her first cousin.
"In this case, the defendant did not have sex with (the victim). However, (the victim) submitted to sex with her purported husband because of the undue influence and religious authority of the defendant," Belnap wrote. "Although the defendant was not the actor in the sense that he had sex with (the victim), accomplices are "'actors under the law."
Belnap said no marriage license was obtained for the union performed by Jeffs, which was conducted in secret. However, the victim believed she was married and had sex with her purported husband because "she believed it was her responsibility as a wife."
The Deseret Morning News does not name sexual assault victims, nor is this newspaper naming the alleged rapist because he has not been charged with a crime.
Defense lawyers fired back this afternoon, asking a judge to dismiss the case against the Fundamentalist LDS Church leader.
In a motion to dismiss the case, defense lawyer Walter Bugden Jr. says the state is confusing the culpability of the alleged rapist and Jeffs, who is charged with rape as an accomplice.
"The state alleges that the victim did not consent to sexual intercourse with the principal and bases its allegations on the actions of the Defendant (Jeffs) i.e., that he used psychological manipulation and his position as a religious leader to gain her consent," Budgen wrote in a motion obtained by the Deseret Morning News.
Citing a series of case histories, Bugden attacked the prosecution's claims by saying that Jeffs did not "command, encourage or intentionally aid," the alleged rapist in having sex with his purported wife.
"Moreover, merely by acting as the community's religious leader, the Defendant (Jeffs) did not affirmatively act to request, command, encourage or intentionally aid the principal in enticing or coercing the alleged victim," Bugden wrote, concluding that Jeffs was not an accomplice to a rape.
The court motions were filed in advance of Tuesday's preliminary hearing against Jeffs, where the alleged victim is expected to testify against him.
Jeffs, 50, is charged with two counts of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. He is accused of marrying the then-14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin in a secret ceremony at a Caliente, Nev., motel in 2001.
The FLDS leader was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list until he was arrested during a traffic stop in August outside Las Vegas.
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
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