Jeffs' fate now in hands of the Utah jury

He said government prosecutors could have charged Jeffs with solemnizing an unlawful marriage. Instead, he said, "they are prosecuting Warren Jeffs for rape because Warren Jeffs is the leader of a church they don't agree with. Instead, they dropped a nuclear bomb on this religious community and charged him with rape."

During his opening arguments today, Belnap said that Jeffs was wrong to force the girl to marry her teenage cousin and then encourage her to engage in sexual relations with the man. "When a 14-year-old is persuaded to submit to sexual intercourse, there is no consent," Belnap said.

Jeffs was first counselor in the Fundamentalist LDS Church at the time of the marriage ceremony. His father, Rulon Jeffs, was the prophet and the girl's stepfather, Fred Jessop, was the second counselor. Both have since died and Warren Jeffs is considered by faithful members of the FLDS Church to be their prophet.

Wall, now 21, testified last week that she did not want to be married to her cousin, and begged Jessop and Jeffs to be spared from the union. No one, she testified, came to her defense, adding she felt her mother and other adults betrayed her for insisting that she go through with the ceremony.

Two of Wall's older sisters, both of whom have left the FLDS faith, testified that the teenage bride cried and was distraught in days leading up to the wedding. Once married, the girl testified she sought a meeting with Jeffs to complain that her new husband was touching her in ways that she didn't like. Jeffs told her to repent, return home, and give herself, "mind, body and soul" to her husband, she said.

Wall testified she was terrified the first time the couple had sex and that her husband said it was "time for you to be a wife" when he forced himself on her. She said the event traumatized her so much that she swallowed two bottles of over-the-counter pain medication that night and later threw it up.

Jeffs defense attorney Tara Isaacson pointed out that Wall has filed a civil lawsuit against Jeffs and the financial arm of his church, seeking a $1 million settlement and property in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. Most members of the FLDS Church live in the twin towns about 50 miles east of St. George, although there are other settlements in Canada and several Western states.

Wall's former husband, Allen Steed, testified on Wednesday that he loved his wife and tried hard to make the marriage work. Steed, who has not been charged with a crime, testified the police never interviewed him about Wall's allegations until after Jeffs was charged in 2006.