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mormon fundamentalists

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Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for sexually assaulting two underage followers he took as brides in what his church deemed “spiritual marriages.”

A Texas juryhas convicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs of child sexual assault Thursday in a case stemming from two young followers he took as brides in what his church calls “spiritual marriages.”

Warren Jeffs regained control of his polygamous church on Wednesday after a four-month internal struggle for the presidency of the corporations that comprise the entity.

In April, William E. Jessop filed papers with the state ousting Jeffs as president of the corporations that make up the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The state of Texas is expected to rest its case Wednesday in the sexual assault trial of polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs.

Records shown Tuesday morning state that Jeffs unofficially “married” a 14-year-old girl when he was 48.

Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs may be the one on trial, but he told court officials that if they don’t stop prosecuting him on two counts of sexual assault of a child, they would face an even bigger problem — the wrath of God.

Jeffs , the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a radical offshoot of mainstream Mormonism, is on trial over charges leveled after a 2008 raid on his sect’s compound.

After he fired his team of high-profile attorneys, Warren Jeffs sat silent Thursday as Texas prosecutors began to lay out evidence that he sexually assaulted two underage girls — including an audiotape of one alleged assault on a 12-year-old.

Jeffs is the ecclesiastical head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

The much-anticipated trial against polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs is set to begin today, with opening statements expected at 10 a.m. local time in the Texas courtroom where the trial is being held.

Ten women and two men were selected to sit on the jury in the sexual assault trial of polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs late Tuesday, after more than 100 potential jurors were excused for admitting they’d previously heard enough about his background to no longer presume him innocent, the Associated Press reports.

The trial of Warren Jeffs, the 55-year-old ecclesiastical head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, starts today.

court documents pointing to Jeffs spiritually marrying at least 10 underage girls, some as young as 12, before his 2006 arrest.

Warren Jeffs, the head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamy-sanctioning offshoot of Mormonism, is charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child.

The charges stem from an April 2008 raid on the church’s Yearning for Zion compound outside the town of Eldorado, south of San Angelo, where Jeffs is set to be tried.

Frederick Merril Jessop, a former bishop of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was told to stay in Texas until his trial unless he gets permission from the court to take medical trips out of state.

Two other FLDS leaders appeared in court as well.

Jeffs is charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child — one of them aggravated sexual assault because the child was 14 years old — both at a time when Jeffs was about 50 years old.

The aggravated charge is a first-degree felony charge of five to 99 years in prison and the other is a second-degree felony charge of two to 20 years in prison.

A jailed member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is asking an appeals court to overturn his conviction.

Michael Emack is challenging the search warrant that led Texas authorities to place more than 400 children from the cult’s compound into protective custody — and to subsequently seize evidence later used to indict 12 FLDS followers on bigamy and sexual assualt charges.

What was to be a final pretrial turned in to what may be the first of several pretrials for Frederick Merril Jessop, 75, a bishop of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who now has a new attorney.

Jessop’s next pretrial hearing was scheduled for June 27 in Schleicher County, and a trial date was set for Oct. 31.

Utah Division of Corporations officials said in a statement that neither jailed leader Warren S. Jeffs nor challenger William E. Jessop has presented “clear evidence” of a right to head the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints’ legal entity.

The two men have until Aug. 3 to either both sign a document agreeing on a leader or get a court order determining who is in authority, division officials stated.

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