FLDS followers testify

ST. GEORGE — Jailed polygamist-sect leader Warren Jeffs was described on the witness stand Tuesday as a caring, gentle, religious man who counseled his flock to love one another in righteousness.

Four couples and one woman testified that they were members of the Fundamentalist LDS Church, which Jeffs leads as the faith's prophet. Faithful FLDS members believe in the principle of plural or celestial marriage and that those unions are arranged by the prophet through a revelation from God.

Several FLDS women testified that they were taught it is the wife's place to initiate intimate relations with her husband and that she can refuse such behavior. None of the couples sought intimacy on their wedding night, and in one case it was nearly two years before such behavior occurred.

"It is up to the individual person's inspiration. You don't have to do things that you think is wrong," said Jennie Pipkin, 26, who said she sought a marriage at the age of 17. Pipkin said she also sought a release from her husband after having five children with him because he began to "nag" her for sex. Jeffs, she said, approved of her request.

One woman, now 23, said she asked the prophet for an arranged marriage at the age of 17 and had to wait three years before she was placed with her 47-year-old husband.

Each person testified they placed their faith in the FLDS prophet, who was Rulon Jeffs at the time, and in his son, Warren Jeffs, to receive inspiration and place them with the right person.

"You have perfect confidence that the prophet will place you right," said Joanna Keate, 23. "At first I didn't love my husband and I was pretty determined not to have children."

Keate said she was married at 19 to a man who she said later became her "prince charming."

It took a couple of years before she really loved her husband and became physically intimate with him, she said. During that time, the couple sought Jeffs' counsel.

"He told us to start doing things together, to start including each other," Keate testified, adding the advice worked.

Ben Thomas and his wife, Margaret, testified separately, telling their story of how they were placed together in marriage and discovered it took time to love each other. "I have no right to force anything on anybody," Ben Thomas said. "Just like my priesthood head has no right to force me, I have no right to force my wife. There is no blind obedience."

Each person called by the defense on Tuesday described the FLDS practice of placement marriage, their experience with it and their interaction with Jeffs as their religious leader.