Jeffs' jail conversations may haunt him in trials

Jeffs retracted his renouncement of his role in recorded conversations in February, defense attorneys wrote.

Washington County prosecutors sought to use the comments at trial, but the judge said they had the potential to prejudice a jury and he ordered them sealed. A hearing is scheduled in St. George's 5th District Court next week on news media requests to release sealed documents and tapes in the case.

In the unsealed court documents, prosecutors revealed that in November 2006, they sought protective measures for Elissa Wall, the former child-bride whose testimony ultimately helped convict the FLDS leader. Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap cited a document seized by FBI agents when they arrested Jeffs.

Excerpts state that Jeffs spoke of going into hiding, saying there were enemies who wanted to destroy his work and take his life. Jeffs spoke of a conspiracy that "involved taking me captive, putting me in jail, bringing forth witnesses, that involved the passing of these laws, to call us criminals by performing marriages, so-called 'under age' marriages ..."

The FBI refused Wednesday to comment about any evidence seized when Jeffs was arrested. The FLDS leader was indicted by a federal grand jury on unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, stemming from his time on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list.

Jeffs' words could be used in criminal cases pending against him in Arizona, where the polygamist leader is accused of performing more child-bride marriages.

"I have no comment," Mohave County Attorney's investigator Gary Engels said when contacted by the Deseret Morning News on Wednesday.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who has had an organized crime probe into the FLDS Church, said that if Jeffs' statements admitted to any chargeable offenses, it might raise their interest.

But defense attorneys argue that any statements Jeffs has made are prejudicial. In a recent letter to a probation officer, Bugden said Jeffs would not participate in a pre-sentence interview because his statements could not be protected.

"I am not a fan of Jeffs, but I am a fan of respecting constitutional rights and individual human dignity," said Mary Batchelor, a member of the pro-polygamy group Principle Voices. She said releasing any recordings would make it difficult to find a fair jury in Arizona.

Ken Driggs, a Georgia lawyer and an expert on fundamentalism, said the recent disclosures may get mixed reaction from the FLDS faithful in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

"The few people I'm still in touch with down there still take a defensive kind of tact," he said Wednesday. "He's the prophet. He's persecuted. But a few people are keeping their heads down."

Roger Hoole, a lawyer who represents Elissa Wall and other ex-FLDS members suing Jeffs, wants the tapes made public for the benefit of people still in the FLDS Church.

"So that they can hear — and see — everything Warren Jeffs said and draw their own conclusions," he said.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com