The Overturning of Warren Jeffs’ Convictions: Accurate Process or Injustice?

Warren Jeffs, leader of the religious church, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or FLDS, was convicted in 2007 of two counts of rape as an accomplice. He was accused of using his religious influence to coerce a fourteen-year-old girl, Elissa Wall, into marrying her nineteen-year-old cousin, Allen Steed. At the trial Elissa testified that she did not want to be married and repeatedly told Jeffs that she was uncomfortable with her husbands sexual advances. She also alleged that Warren Jeffs refused to let her out of marriage. The victim expressed a lack of consent and was underage, so why did the Utah Supreme Court overturn the convictions?

            The overturning was due to a scrutiny of another aspect of the law defining non-consensual sex in where "the actor" must be in a position of special trust in relation to the victim. Jeff’s defense said that the jury was not properly instructed on who was in the position of special trust. They claimed that Steed also needed to be included to be in a position of special trust and the jury needed to be properly instructed in this manner. In less legal jargon, the defense claimed that Jeffs did not intend for Steed to rape Elissa Wall by encouraging their marriage. The prosecutors made the obvious rebuttal to this; stating that by presiding over the marriage, Jeffs knew that sex was going to take place.

            I side with the prosecution in that the overturning of these convictions, not by determination of guilt or innocence, rather by a mere wording technicality is a practice of injustice. This is not the first controversy Jeffs has faced as leader of the intensely secluded church. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff stated in a speech, “Warren Jeffs started to really push the fact that wives don’t belong to their husbands. Instead, they belong to Jeffs… Jeffs would tell them who their next husband was going to be, and if need be, move them from house to house” (Shurtleff). This is overturning is also concerning considering the rising public accusations of domestic and child abuse within the FLDS, including books by escaped victim Carolyn Jessop, and esteemed author John Krakauer. The state of Utah estimates that there are as many as 750 runaway youths from polygamist communities, the vast majority of them homeless (Wharton, 2008). I believe that considering Jeffs God-like authoritarian status in his community, he was aware of and encouraged acts of domestic and child abuse and should be held accountable as such. Warren Jeffs defense is currently attempting to halt Jeffs extradition to Texas.

           

Work Cited

Shurtleff, M. (2009, February). Religion and non-state governance: Warren Jeffs and the FLDS. Speech presented at University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Wharton, T. C. (2008). Deserted in Deseret: how utah's emancipation statute is saving polygamist runaways and queer homeless youths. Journal of Law and Family Studies, 10, 213-221.