Jeffs' leadership may be precarious, scholar says

When the leader of a fundamentalist polygamist group goes on trial, what traditionally happens is instant martyrdom — fervent supporters are horrified their leader is being persecuted and they circle the wagons.

That may happen with some people in the case of Warren Jeffs.

But there may be others who will likely breathe a sigh of relief and quietly wait it out while the criminal justice system deals with Jeffs' criminal charges in Utah and Arizona.

"This situation is a little bit different," said Ken Driggs, an Atlanta defense attorney who has done scholarly research for years on the Fundamentalist LDS Church and knows Jeffs.

Driggs is writing two books on the group and has been called as an expert witness in litigation involving the church. Beyond that, he has long-standing personal friendships with many people in the polygamous communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

Jeffs' heavy-handed leadership has deepened divisions within the church that were quietly and smoothly dealt with by Jeffs' late father, Rulon Jeffs. There now are deep-seated personal, philosophical and economic differences that may have rendered Warren Jeffs' leadership "a little precarious," Driggs said.

"The community has been fractured as a result of things Warren has done," Driggs said. "There weren't these splits in the community under his father."

Among them:

• In a recent purge, Jeffs excommunicated many men of the Barlow family, most of them sons and grandsons of John Y. Barlow, a spiritual leader of the church until his death in 1949 who headed a large and well-respected family.

"They have a lot of following and loyalty in the community," Driggs said. "John Y. Barlow was the leader of what many consider to be a more unified Mormon fundamentalist community."

• Warren Jeffs was sued in 2004 by a nephew who claims Jeffs and two other relatives sexually abused him when he was a boy. Driggs said Jeffs instructed his lawyers not to respond to the lawsuit. Eventually, for this and other legal and financial reasons, a 3rd District judge appointed a special fiduciary and a new board of trustees to oversee the United Effort Plan (UEP), which essentially controls church assets.

• Purely anecdotal evidence suggests Jeffs has been solemnizing more marriages involving underage brides than in the past, although Driggs is quick to point out he has no hard facts to back this.