Jurors: Girl's age was crucial to decision in Jeffs trial

ST. GEORGE — Jurors in the Warren Jeffs case said Tuesday they were convinced of the polygamist sect leader's guilt on charges of rape as an accomplice because of two "simple facts."

"She was 14. She didn't have to say anything for rape to occur. Warren Jeffs was her only ticket to getting out or not getting married," said juror Gerald Munk, 36, a maintenance worker for St. George.

The guilty verdict could send Jeffs, 51, to prison for life. Sentencing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Nov. 20 in 5th District Court.

Jeffs is the president and prophet of the Fundamentalist LDS Church, whose tenets include polygamy and a belief in arranged marriages through revelation by God to the FLDS prophet.

But religion did not play a part in the jury's decision, jurors said during a debriefing with reporters following the verdict. Defense attorney Wally Bugden argued during his closing statement that Utah had made a political decision to charge Jeffs with rape, when it could have filed charges of performing an illegal, underage marriage.

"Religion was definitely involved, but I don't think it (the case) was about that," said Heather Newkirk, a 32-year-old mom and massage therapist.

The issue before the jury, Newkirk said, was the age of the victim and the jury's strict interpretation of the law.

"Rape can be very subtle" when the victim is 14 years old, she said.

Under Utah law, a 14-year-old can consent to sex in some circumstances. But sex is not considered consensual if a person younger than 18 is enticed by someone at least three years older.

Elissa Wall, now 21 and married to a different man, testified she objected to an arranged marriage that placed her with Allen Steed, her 19-year-old cousin. Wall testified that no one in her family, including her mother and stepfather, Fred Jessop, who was second counselor in the FLDS Church presidency, would listen to her pleas to avoid the marriage.

Several weeks after the wedding, which Jeffs conducted in a Nevada motel, Wall testified that Steed forced her to have sex, leaving her feeling "dirty and used." Wall said Jeffs, who was first counselor in the FLDS Church at the time, ignored her complaints that Steed was touching her in ways she didn't like, admonishing her to repent and give herself "mind, body and soul" to her husband.