Polygamist Abram Harker Jeffs convicted of sex assault of a child in West Texas trial

ELDORADO, Texas — A West Texas jury has convicted a member of a polygamist group of sexual assault of a child, a charge stemming from his alleged marriage to an underage girl.

Attorney general's spokesman Jerry Strickland says the verdict was returned in Eldorado Tuesday morning, just hours after deliberations began.

Thirty-nine-year-old Abram Harker Jeffs was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old he allegedly married in a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ceremony when he was 34. He faces up to life in prison when sentenced.

Jeffs is the sixth FLDS man to answer charges since the April 2008 raid on the Yearning For Zion Ranch. The five others have all been convicted or pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison.