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John Hollenhorst Reporting There's still no word on when polygamist Warren Jeffs will be returned to Utah. In his Las Vegas court hearing the other day, Jeffs waived extradition. His move to the St. George area to stand trial on sex charges is expected at any moment.
Meanwhile, an interesting question has arisen: Will Jeffs stand up and fight or will he simply try to ignore the legal system?
A private eye who helped orchestrate the legal attack on Warren Jeffs and rejoiced over his arrest, told us today; "We couldn't have done it without Warren Jeffs. He shot himself in the foot." That's because of the strange legal strategy Jeffs adopted.
When legal storm clouds started forming over Jeffs community several years ago his followers started building walls. It was a metaphor for Jeffs legal strategy. He ordered the faithful to stonewall the legal process.
"Answer Them Nothing," Jeffs preached as he got rid of his own lawyers. Without legal opposition, his opponents had an unusually free hand. A court seized the 100 million dollar property trust Jeffs controlled.
Bruce Wisan, Court Appointed Fiduciary: "He walked away from some litigation against the trust and put the homes of thousand people in jeopardy, by not putting up a defense."
Jeffs also refused to defend himself against civil suits. Private Eye Sam Brower spent months trying to serve subpoenas. By answering nothing, Jeffs opened the door to a potentially costly default judgment, and probably to criminal charges as well.
Sam Brower, Private Investigator in Civil Cases: "The scenario of him getting arrested is what we all hoped for. It was just perfect."
Brower and the civil suits kicked up media attention. They helped push disgruntled followers into the open. That fueled law enforcement efforts to find evidence of crimes.
Jerry Jaeger, Deputy Washington County Attorney: "From my gut, I feel like we have a strong case and that's why we filed the charges."
Now that he faces up to life in prison for allegedly ordering an underage girl to get married and have sex, will Jeffs finally join his own legal battle?
Bruce WIsan: "I think that he's going to be forced to deal with the legal system now."
His followers are on trial for similar charges in Arizona.
Gary Engels, Arizona Investigator: "I think he will fight. He had his followers fight, his followers are fighting Matt Smith and I tooth and toenail in court."
Jeffs did go against his own teachings to elude arrest. When finally stopped on I-15, he was in a red vehicle, red being a sacred, prohibited color in his group. He was in shorts and his wife was wearing pants.
Richard Holm, Former F.L.D.S. Member: "That's something that was talked against a whole bunch by Warren and his dad, as gentile-ism."
Sam Brower: "Tells me that he may be willing to do what it takes to stay out of jail."
Another clue is that Jeffs told investigator Gary Engels on Friday he had people checking into the possibility of a lawyer. Later that day, a prominent Las Vegas attorney met with him in the jail. We don't know if Jeffs called him or if he just dropped in.
