Utahns react to guilty verdict in case of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs

SALT LAKE CITY — Not long after polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs — charged with sexually assaulting two underage girls he took in "spiritual marriages" — was found guilty by a Texas jury, Utahns with ties to Jeffs were buzzing about the verdict. 

"I'm delighted" Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said Thursday, noting that it's been 10 years since Utah filed its warrant in a separate case against Jeffs. "I'm extremely pleased justice has finally been served."

Jeffs, 55, was found guilty of sexual abuse of a child and aggravated sexual abuse of a child following a dramatic trial in which the 55-year-old leader of the Fundamentalist LDS Church fired his attorneys and chose to represent himself — a move Shurtleff said didn't surprise him.

"I've gotten to know Warren Jeffs from so many people, and I think he truly believes he's above all of us mere mortals," Shurtleff said. "He believes he's a special person, that nobody could do the job he could do, and obviously that was his defense: 'I'm a prophet, I'm right, you can't touch me.'"

That said, Shurtleff said he would have preferred that Jeffs have a defense team, though he believes state District Judge Barbara Walther and the Texas prosecutors did a great job with the case. 

"Any prosecutor would prefer that there was good defense counsel, but the law allows a person to represent themselves," he said. "The judge had no choice but to let him do it, but she did a great job preserving the record and reminding him he wasn't doing any good."

Shurtleff said the evidence was "so overwhelming" that he thinks Jeffs would have been convicted regardless. His primary hope, now, is that members of the FLDS Church, who hold Jeffs up as a prophet, are told the truth about their leader.

"I don't believe (Jeffs) will find himself out of a prison cell for the rest of his life," Shurtleff said. "The question now is how to get those words to his followers."

Elissa Wall, who as a 14-year-old was forced into a "spiritual marriage" with her cousin, Allen Glade Steed, said she felt "relief" upon hearing the news. Jeffs was convicted of rape as an accomplice for overseeing the marriage between Wall and Steed, only to have the conviction overturned by the Utah Supreme Court.

"This day has been a long, hard road," she said Thursday. "It has been a long time coming for me. I never really wanted the fight, I never really wanted the conflict that has gone on to get here, but the miracle that has happened today and shined on us all is amazing."