From Deseret News archives:

Jury in Jeffs trial to resume its deliberations on Monday

Published: Saturday, Sept. 22, 2007 12:37 a.m. MDT
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Steed said the couple first had intercourse about three weeks into the marriage and that his wife initiated the sexual contact.

"One thing led to another," he said, testifying he never forced his wife to have sex.

Crying on the witness stand, Steed testified that Jeffs dissolved his marriage after he discovered a photo of his wife with another man in the community.

Wall has since married that man and had a child with him.

Jane Doe/Elissa Wall

Jeffs' defense attorneys said that before Wall met with law enforcement to make her complaints against Jeffs, she first hired a lawyer and filed a civil lawsuit against Jeffs and the financial arm of the FLDS Church, the United Effort Plan Trust, which has $110 million in assets.

A settlement proposal first reported by the Deseret Morning News earlier this week disclosed that Wall is seeking $1 million for a fund to aid other people leaving the FLDS Church. The lawsuit also seeks property in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. She is asking that the UEP trust pay her legal fees.

Hoole said the reason for the lawsuit was simple.

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"When Elissa was 14 years old, she had no option. She was trapped in that community," he said. "The purpose of that lawsuit is to create a fund to make sure that future girls like Elissa have the means to leave the community."

He criticized Jeffs' defense attorneys for trying to portray Wall as money-hungry.

"The settlement agreement speaks for itself," Hoole said. "None of that money goes to Elissa. She will not receive a penny. It's to help give the opportunity to underage brides that she never had."

In court documents and news media accounts, she had been known as "Jane Doe IV" and "M.J." Elissa Wall is the name she had at the time of her marriage. Since the cases against Jeffs were filed, her attorney said, she has changed her name again and is living in a sort-of "witness protection program."


E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com; bwinslow@desnews.com

Recent comments

One of the reasons that the FLDS and Warrens Jeffs, or the many other...

NET | Sept. 24, 2007 at 8:24 p.m.

Funny how religious people throw out the word brainwashed when it�s...

BC | Sept. 24, 2007 at 3:54 p.m.

As for the rape charge for the ex-husband, he was also brainwashed in...

LHH | Sept. 22, 2007 at 11:55 p.m.

Image
Photo courtesy of Greg Hoole

Photo shows Elissa Wall at age 14, six months prior to when she was married to her cousin. Her name was made public Friday.

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