Trial of Jeffs to stay in Dixie

ST. GEORGE — Looking skeletal and frail, Warren Jeffs stood and raised his hand.

"May I approach the bench?" the Fundamentalist LDS Church leader asked the judge at the end of a long day of hearings here in 5th District Court Tuesday. "I need to just take care of one matter."

Judge James Shumate refused to hear it, urging Jeffs to speak to his lawyers.

"Can I take care of it now?" Jeffs asked again.

Jeffs began bending over, trying to write something on a pad of paper. He feebly tore at the paper, appearing to have trouble even holding himself up. Washington County sheriff's deputies swarmed around him and ordered the courtroom to be cleared.

Jeffs' lawyers took the writing from him.

The FLDS leader's defense team refused to comment on his unusual courtroom behavior.

"He is very frail," attorney Walter Bugden Jr. told reporters outside the courtroom.

He would not say what his client wanted to talk to the judge about. Prosecutors also refused to talk about Jeffs' appearance or health.

"You guys were in court when I was," Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap told the Deseret Morning News as he walked back to his office. "I'll leave it to you to draw your judgments."

Throughout Tuesday's hearing, Jeffs exhibited bizarre behavior. He struggled to concentrate and at times appeared to be nodding off. At one point, Jeffs' head dipped down and a strand of drool ran from his lips onto his shirt. He jerked awake, then wiped his mouth and shirt.

Jeffs' courtroom behavior capped a day of defeat for his legal team. The judge denied a series of motions seeking to derail the criminal case against the polygamist leader, including a request to stay the criminal trial and move it to Salt Lake County.

"We intend to appeal. We're going to do everything we can to represent Mr. Jeffs' interests," Bugden said.

Jeffs, 51, is charged with two counts of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. He is accused of performing a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.

Defense attorneys have asked to move the trial from St. George to Salt Lake County, citing the overwhelming amount of media coverage that has surrounded the polygamist leader.

"Jury selection is the most important moment in a trial," Bugden told the judge.

To bolster his case, Bugden put Deseret Morning News pollster Dan Jones on the witness stand. Jones insisted Jeffs could not get a fair trial in St. George. Jones' poll found that in Washington County, 52 percent of those surveyed believe Jeffs is "definitely guilty" and 23 percent believe he is "probably guilty." In contrast, 39 percent of those surveyed in Salt Lake County believe Jeffs is "definitely guilty" and another 39 percent believe he is "probably guilty."