Good riddance
[url=http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_polygamist_sect_leader_guilty_of_09252007.html]US polygamist sect leader guilty of rape charges
Published: Tuesday September 25, 2007[/url]
The leader of a polygamist sect in Utah was on Tuesday found guilty of rape charges stemming from the marriage of a 14-year-old girl against her will to a cousin.
Warren Jeffs, 51, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which broke from the Mormon Church because of differences over polygamy, was convicted on two charges of acting as an accomplice to rape.
Jeffs, a self-proclaimed prophet whose followers believe he is descended
from Jesus Christ, was arrested in August last year outside of Las Vegas
after being included on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list.
Prosecutors at his trial in St. George, Utah, 300 miles (480 kilometers)
south of Salt Lake City, said Jeffs was guilty because he had ordered the
girl to get married and have sex with her cousin despite her objections.
Members of Jeffs' church are known to live in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, South Dakota and Canada's British Columbia.
The FLDS broke from the mainstream Mormon Latter-Day Saints more than a century ago because of differences on the question of whether men were allowed to take multiple wives.
Polygamy, or "plural marriage," is a key plank of the FLDS church, but was not an issue in Jeffs' trial.
However, Jeffs' followers claimed their leader was prosecuted because of the FLDS's beliefs about polygamy, which is opposed by Mormons and illegal under US law.
