The ex-husband whose marriage was at the center of FLDS leader Warren’s Jeff‘s trial — and who was charged with rape one day after the cult leader’s conviction pleaded guilty to reduced charges Friday and was sentenced to probation and a month in jail.
A Utah judge has refused to dismiss a rape charge against a man whose 2001 spiritual marriage to an underage girl was the basis for the state’s criminal prosecution of polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs, the Associated Press reports.
Fifth District Judge G. Rand Beacham issued an order Tuesday denying a motion to dismiss charges of rape against Allen Glade Steed based upon the statute of limitations.
Attorneys for Steed petitioned the court to have the charge of rape dismissed because the state waited too long to file the charge. Steed was charged September 26, 2007 shortly after a St. George jury had found Warren Steed Jeffs guilty of being an accomplice to rape. The decision by Judge Beacham allows the case to go to trial.
It was Steed’s marriage to Elissa Wall at 14-years of age when he was 19-years old that was the premise under which FLDS leader Warren Jeffs was tried and convicted of being an accomplice to rape and found guilty. The case against Steed is for alleged non-consensual intercourse between him and Wall.
Jeffs performed a spiritual marriage between the pair in 2001 and allegedly encouraged the nonconsensual relationship as ordained of God.
In today’s RNB Religion News Roundup: lawyers hope Tony Alamo won’t speak; cult leader Alan Bushey faces sentencing; No deal on rape charge for man whose marriage to underage sect member led to conviction of FLDS cult leader Warren Jeffs.
Also: While providing marriage counseling, two associate pastors concealed that a third pastor was having an affair with a man’s wife. Then: A federal judge in Chicago has dismissed a charge against an avowed white supremacist accused of threatening a juror.
A 5th District Court judge said Friday he will consider a Fundamentalist LDS Church member’s request to compel the Washington County Attorney’s Office to seek out and provide evidence gathered by various agencies and individuals during the state’s investigation of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs.
Allen Glade Steed, who appeared in court with his parents and Salt Lake City attorney Jim Bradshaw, was charged in September 2007 with first-degree felony rape a day after testifying on Jeffs’ behalf.