Jeffs ordered to stand trial

ST. GEORGE — As a judge ordered Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs to stand trial, some of his followers wiped away tears.

They came to the 5th District Courthouse to see the man they call a "prophet." In a display of respect, they stood every time Jeffs entered or exited the courtroom. There were 16 in all — including five women wearing the prairie dresses common to the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

Several times during Thursday's lengthy preliminary hearing, Jeffs would turn and smile, nodding his head in acknowledgement.

They smiled back.

In the FLDS stronghold of Hildale and Colorado City, members were fasting and praying for Jeffs' release, a former follower told the Deseret Morning News.

Instead, after more than six hours of testimony and legal arguments, the judge bound Jeffs over for trial on two charges of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. He is accused of forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry an older cousin in 2001.

"For these two offenses, how do you plead?" Judge James L. Shumate asked.

"Not guilty," Jeffs, 51, replied softly.

Outside court, Jeffs' defense attorney Wally Bugden told reporters the FLDS leader is "at peace" with the judge's decision.

"We believe in the jury system and we believe that Mr. Jeffs will be acquitted," he said.

Jeffs is scheduled to go on trial for two weeks beginning April 23. Washington County prosecutors said they will be ready. Their star witness, a woman they call "Jane Doe IV," remains willing to testify.

"I don't think it would be easy for anyone to discuss the private details of her life while confronting a man she was raised to believe was the mouthpiece of God," Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap said Thursday. "She is thankful that this stage of the case is over and is prepared to move forward to trial."

The woman — who is now 20 and has remarried — gave birth last week to a girl. She did not attend Thursday's hearing, but her lawyer said she is "pleased and relieved" that Jeffs was bound over for trial.

"We agree with the judge that Warren Jeffs should be tried before a jury on whether commanding a 14-year-old girl to marry her first cousin and instructing her to have children is against the law," lawyer Roger Hoole said.