Trial of Jeffs to stay in Dixie
Judge doesn't let FLDS leader address court
Judge James Shumate refused to hear it, urging Jeffs to speak to his lawyers.
"Can I take care of it now?" Jeffs asked again.
Jeffs began bending over, trying to write something on a pad of paper. He feebly tore at the paper, appearing to have trouble even holding himself up. Washington County sheriff's deputies swarmed around him and ordered the courtroom to be cleared.
Jeffs' lawyers took the writing from him.
The FLDS leader's defense team refused to comment on his unusual courtroom behavior.
"He is very frail," attorney Walter Bugden Jr. told reporters outside the courtroom.
He would not say what his client wanted to talk to the judge about. Prosecutors also refused to talk about Jeffs' appearance or health.
"You guys were in court when I was," Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap told the Deseret Morning News as he walked back to his office. "I'll leave it to you to draw your judgments."
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Jeffs' courtroom behavior capped a day of defeat for his legal team. The judge denied a series of motions seeking to derail the criminal case against the polygamist leader, including a request to stay the criminal trial and move it to Salt Lake County.
"We intend to appeal. We're going to do everything we can to represent Mr. Jeffs' interests," Bugden said.
Jeffs, 51, is charged with two counts of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. He is accused of performing a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.
Defense attorneys have asked to move the trial from St. George to Salt Lake County, citing the overwhelming amount of media coverage that has surrounded the polygamist leader.
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