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John Hollenhorst Reporting A young woman went face-to-face with Warren Jeffs in court today as he faced a preliminary hearing on charges of being an accessory to the rape of a child.
She accused him of using religion to coerce her at age 14 into marriage and sex with a first cousin she intensely disliked.
She says she considered him essentially God on Earth, and largely because he said so, she got married and had sex at age 14. Now she's faced the psychological ordeal of standing up to Warren Jeffs in court.
The judge banned pictures of the three witnesses, three sisters who once believed Warren Jeffs had the key to their salvation.
Alleged victim: "He was God to us here on Earth."
But then Jeffs arranged the 14 year old's marriage to an unpleasant bully, her first cousin.
Alleged victim: "I was horrified. When I finally realized who they were going to have me marry, I was devastated."
Alleged victim: "There was no way I was going to marry that man."
She says she tried to talk Jeffs and the cousin out of it, but eventually surrendered at a Nevada motel, in a marriage ceremony conducted by Jeffs.
Alleged victim: "I was very scared to say no to them because that was unheard of. You never defied or questioned what they told you to do, or they told you that God told you to do."
The girl is now 20 years old. She said she tried everything to get out of the marriage after the fact, and before.
In fact, she said she refused to say "I do" at the wedding, but Jeffs drilled a hole in her with his eyes. She finally relented.
Later, she says, the cousin-husband forced her to have sex.
Alleged victim: "I told Warren that he was touching me and doing things to me that I didn't know was right."
She says Jeffs did not intervene and told her to submit to her husband, mind body and soul.
Alleged victim's sister: "So basically he had his way with her, did whatever he wanted. He went to bed and she came downstairs crying."
The defense team says Jeffs was just a religious leader counseling a married couple to love each other and have a family.
Walter Bugden/ Jeffs' Defense Attorney: "We believe a jury or the court will see this prosecution for exactly what it is-- unacceptable religious persecution!"
The hearing was supposed to last just one day. But after hours of the grueling testimony today, they still aren't finished.
The preliminary hearing will resume on December 14th.
As usual for a Jeffs court appearance, there was heavy media attention. At least a dozen satellite trucks were at the Washington County Courthouse.
And security was tight, with sharpshooters stationed on nearby cliffs.
There was also high demand for seats in the courtroom; about a dozen members of Jeffs FLDS Church were granted seats in the section reserved for family.
Jeffs was arrested Aug. 28 and is being held without bail in the county jail in Purgatory, about 25 miles west of the twin towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz., where most of his estimated 10,000 followers live.
The church arranges marriages for young girls and believes plural marriage ensures exaltation in heaven. Jeffs assumed leadership in 2002 after the death of his father. Followers revere him as a prophet who communicates with God.
The church represents itself as a fundamentalist offshoot of the Mormon church. But the Mormons disavow any connection and renounced polygamy more than a century ago.
Looking gaunt in a dark gray suit, Jeffs, 50, sat nearly motionless. He smiled at family and fellow church members in the audience.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
