A 5th District judge has granted a defense attorney’s request to postpone a hearing in the rape case involving Elissa Wall and Allen G. Steed, but a new date has not yet been set.
Judge G. Rand Beacham was to hear motions to dismiss the case or move it out of Washington County to ensure Steed’s right to a fair trial.
Steed and Wall were members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 2001 when they were spiritually married by Warren S. Jeffs, then first counselor in the polygamous sect. Wall objected to the marriage and alleges Steed forced her three weeks later to have sex.
Jeffs, now the sect’s leader, was convicted of rape as an accomplice in September in connection with Wall’s marriage.
Steed, who testified during the trial that Wall initiated sex, was charged with rape a day after a jury found Jeffs guilty.