ST. GEORGE, Utah, Nov. 21 — Appearing frail and gaunt, Warren S. Jeffs, the fundamentalist Mormon polygamist leader, appeared in court on Tuesday and heard testimony from a prosecution witness who said he had “spiritually” married her when she was 14 to her first cousin, who was then 19.
The witness, now 20, testified in a preliminary hearing that Mr. Jeffs, other religious leaders and her mother coerced her into marrying her cousin in a secret wedding ceremony conducted by Mr. Jeffs in Caliente, Nev., on April 14, 2001. She said she had never been wed to the man in a civil ceremony and had never received a state marriage license.
Mr. Jeffs is charged with two felony counts of rape as an accomplice in connection with performing the religious marriage and directing the couple to have sexual intercourse against the will of the teenage girl. If convicted, Mr. Jeffs could be sentenced to life in prison.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/22/us/22polygamy.html?ref=us
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