From Deseret News archives:
Ex-FLDS child bride says she testified to help others
"All of those people down there I know and love very deeply. I know they feel like they're doing what they're supposed to do to get to heaven," she said. "I also know what can happen to these children from first-hand experience."
The former child bride who was the star witness in the criminal case against FLDS leader Warren Jeffs is speaking out about the raid as she promotes her book, "Stolen Innocence." Wall will appear at Sam Weller's Bookstore on Salt Lake City's Main Street tonight, where she will read from her bestseller and have a book signing. The event begins at 7 p.m.
In an interview with the Deseret News, Wall spoke at length about the raid on the YFZ Ranch in Texas, Jeffs' high-profile trial and their feelings about the FLDS Church.
"I know in my heart I did what I had to do to protect other people and give other women a chance that I did not have," she said.
Wall was married at age 14 to her 19-year-old cousin Allen Steed in a 2001 marriage performed by Jeffs. In her courtroom testimony and in her book, she said she tried to resist efforts to be married and she begged Jeffs to let her out of the marriage. She wrote that she attempted suicide the night she first had sex with her husband, the night she alleges she was raped. The marriage ultimately ended when Wall met Lamont Barlow. Pregnant with his child, the two left the FLDS Church.
It was Wall's testimony about her life that led to Jeffs' conviction in a St. George court on two counts of rape as an accomplice. He was sentenced last year to a pair of five-to-life terms.
Steed is facing a rape charge.
The witness
Wall said she agreed to become the state's star witness against Jeffs because she felt it was about more than her.
"I really honestly have a deep love for my family and all the people that are there. I want to be there to help them and extend a hand when they need one. I don't have any vendetta. I don't have any ulterior motive. I'm not trying to take them down or destroy their religion, not at all," she said. "But I am trying to say you cannot do this to children, you cannot do this to women."
Her husband, Lamont Barlow, was more direct.
"Child brides are happening. They are happening," he told the Deseret News. "My wife was a direct result of that."
Wall said that growing up, she would have done anything for the prophet. When she left and decided to testify against Jeffs, she knew there would be consequences.
