From Deseret News archives:
Judge unseals Jeffs evidence despite attorney's protest
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Defense attorney Wally Bugden argued that releasing the documents would prove prejudicial to Jeffs and make it extremely difficult to seat a fair and impartial jury in upcoming cases.
But Judge James L. Shumate said the only reason he sealed the documents in the first place was to protect the jury pool.
"The court's ruling to keep the matter under seal was, frankly in my mind, a way to enable the court to impanel an impartial jury in Washington County," the judge said. "That was why I wanted it sealed."
Shumate said he had no doubt that an unbiased jury could be seated in Mohave County, Ariz., where Jeffs is facing charges of sexual misconduct with a minor as an accomplice and incest as an accomplice.
Bugden urged Shumate to consider the privacy rights of those who visited Jeffs in jail, arguing that they were entitled to know their conversations "would not be released to the world," even though they were recorded by jail officials for law enforcement purposes.
"They would never in a bazillion years think that simply because they were talking in a jailhouse setting that it would be released on the evening news," Bugden said.
About one dozen followers of Jeffs attended Tuesday's hearing and stood when Jeffs entered the courtroom. Jeffs , who was wearing a suit, white shirt and bright blue tie, smiled and nodded to his followers before sitting down next to his attorneys.
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