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FLDS Leader Warren Jeffs Sentenced to Life for Raping Child Bride
Posted By Hatewatch Staff On August 9, 2011 @ 3:48 pm In Anti-Black, Anti-LGBT | 5 Comments
Warren Jeffs, the racist leader of a breakaway Mormon sect, was sentenced to life [1] in prison today for raping a 12-year-girl, taken as a bride in a “spiritual marriage.” Jeffs, the president and prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) was also sentenced to 20 years for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old member of his cult.
Jeffs is already imprisoned for an earlier conviction.
The charges stemmed from a 2007 raid [2] on the FLDS “Yearning for Zion” compound outside Eldorado, Texas. About 460 children were initially taken into custody during the FBI raid, triggered by an anonymous phone tip that turned out to be a hoax. Jeffs vigorously denied the charges, but prosecutors played tapes of him sexually assaulting the 12-year-old and produced DNA evidence proving Jeffs had a child with the 15-year-old. Jurors also saw a 2005 document, among thousands of pages of notes seized in the raid, in which Jeffs wrote, “If the world knew what I was doing, they would hang me from the highest tree.”
As the SPLC has reported [3], Jeffs preached a virulent racism to his 10,000 followers as well as hatred toward LGBT people. “The black race,” he said, “ is the people through which the devil has always been able to bring evil unto the earth.”
The judge said Jeffs, 55, who represented himself, will be eligible for parole in 35 years.
Article printed from Hatewatch | Southern Poverty Law Center: http://www.splcenter.org/blog
URL to article: http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2011/08/09/flds-leader-warren-jeffs-sentenced-to-life-for-raping-child-bride/
URLs in this post:
[1] sentenced to life: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_POLYGAMIST_LEADER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-09-16-03-32
[2] 2007 raid: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2008/summer/raid-and-reaction
[3] reported: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2005/spring/tempest-in-texas/the-prophet-speaks
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5 Comments To "FLDS Leader Warren Jeffs Sentenced to Life for Raping Child Bride"
#1 Comment By tyrone mixon On August 11, 2011 @ 12:33 pm
Good, now he can dream about those little wives/girls in a cell. Then these people (LDS) get on a high horse about everybody else’s life style.
#2 Comment By BRL On August 11, 2011 @ 3:31 pm
Finally justice has being done with this sect hiding behind God word! Now let get ALL the rest of them!
#3 Comment By Peter Hockley On August 12, 2011 @ 5:44 am
I’m very rarely moved to gloat, but I am!
#4 Comment By Tom On August 12, 2011 @ 4:44 pm
Is he a “white supremacist” too? NOOO he’s just another white guy who has to get posted on this crappy website!
#5 Comment By Kate De Braose On August 14, 2011 @ 8:05 pm
He’s like every other white guy accused of sexual crimes against children. They plead that their assaults are approved by their superior and “holy”religious beliefs. So how can they go wrong? They keep pushing for permission from their own groupies. After they get that tacit consent, they blame everyone else for being their victims.