Prison bound: Warren Jeffs sentenced to 2 terms of 5 to life; he plans appeal

ST. GEORGE — Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs could spend the rest of his life in prison under a sentence imposed Tuesday, as a judge ordered him to serve two prison terms of five years-to-life for performing a child bride marriage.

Defense attorney Wally Bugden said Jeffs will seek a new trial and file an appeal within a week.

"We just don't agree with the charge of accomplice to rape. We don't agree with the verdict. We intend to do everything we can to reverse the verdict," he told reporters outside of court.

A request to allow Jeffs to stay at the Purgatory Jail until his appeal was ready was denied by 5th District Court Judge James Shumate. He also denied a motion by defense attorneys seeking to set aside the jury's verdicts.

Jeffs, who was found guilty by a jury in September of two first-degree felony counts of rape as an accomplice, entered the courtroom on Tuesday looking wan, pale and slightly disoriented. The 51-year-old leader of the Fundamentalist LDS Church wore a dark suit and looked thinner than at his previous court appearances. He dabbed once or twice at his mouth with a tissue.

Shumate listened to arguments before sentencing Jeffs to two consecutive terms of five years-to-life at the Utah State Prison and a $37,000 fine. Jeffs will earn credit for time already served since his arrest on I-15 outside Las Vegas in August 2006.

Jeffs could arrive at the Utah State Prison as early as today and could go before the Utah Board of Pardon and Parole to review his time served on the first count in 2010.

"We believe that justice has been served," Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap said outside of court Tuesday.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff hailed the sentence.

"Warren Jeffs belongs in prison for abusing his authority and being an accomplice to rape. A jury found Jeffs guilty and Judge Shumate made the appropriate decision to protect other people from being harmed. Unfortunately, Jeffs' attorneys and some of his followers continue to claim that this convicted felon is being punished for his beliefs," Shurtleff said in a statement issued late Tuesday. "Jeffs can believe whatever he wants, but he is going to prison for his actions, which led to the rape of a child."

Bugden told Shumate that when Jeffs conducted a 2001 arranged marriage between 14-year-old Elissa Wall and her 19-year-old cousin, Allen Steed, he had no idea that it would lead to rape.