Lawyers for Warren Jeffs filed a Writ of Habeas Corpus last week challenging efforts to extradite the fundamentalist Mormon prophet to the Lone Star State.
The filing claims that Utah and Texas are conspiring to violate Jeffs right to a speedy retrial on a charge of Rape as an Accomplice that was overturned in July by the Utah Supreme Court. In that case, the Utah justices ruled that the trial judge had erred when instructing the jury before deliberation of Jeffs’ guilt or innocence.
Abram Harker Jeffs appeared before Judge Barbara Walther on Monday to ask for a free copy of the court reporters record of his trial for use in a planned appeal. Jeffs was convicted in of Sexual Assault of a Child and sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Jeffs appeared as his own attorney while his former attorney, Amy Hennington, and FLDS Church spokesman Willie Jessop sat in the audience.
Special to The Eldorado Success by Steven Anderson A San Angelo jury sentenced Keith Dutson, Jr. to six years in prison Tuesday and ordered him to pay a $10,000 fine after deliberating just over three hours. The sentence came following more than two and a half days of argument and testimony in the punishment phase of his trial.
The same jury had found Dutson guilty of Sexual Assault of a Child on Tuesday of last week. The verdict stemmed from the then 20 year-old’s so called “celestial” or “spiritual” marriage in 2005 to a 15 year old girl at the YFZ Ranch just outside Eldorado.
The YFZ Ranch is home base in Texas for members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (FLDS), some of whom practice polygamy and marriage with underage girls. Dutson is the seventh resident of the ranch to be sentenced to prison in a round of criminal cases that followed in the wake of the 2008 raid on the ranch.
The Schleicher County Appraisal District has granted tax exempt status to the temple and meeting hall at the YFZ Ranch. That news came last week after ranch officials drop an appeal to the district’s Appraisal Review Board.
Chief Appraiser Jani Mitchell told THE SUCCESS that she granted the exemption after receiving advise from the district’s attorneys.
Mitchell noted that the exemption applies to 2010 taxes, but only if proper paperwork is completed and submitted to the district by YFZ representatives.
Abram Harker Jeffs appeared Tuesday, November 9, 2010 in 51st District Judge Barbara Walther’s court, at which time he asked for a free copy of the court reporter’s record of his June 2010 trial. That’s when Jeffs was convicted by a Schleicher County jury of Sexual Assault of a Child and sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Judge Walther was not convinced that Jeffs is indigent and refused a free copy of the record.
Had the judge ordered the copy be provided to Jeffs, Schleicher County would likely have picked up the tab for the document. It could have cost as much as $40,000.
In a terse, two sentence ruling, the Utah Supreme Court Tuesday afternoon lifted a stay preventing the extradition of FLDS Prophet Warren Steed Jeffs to Texas. The court also dismissed his appeal of a lower court’s ruling.
“This matter is before the court on petition for Emergency Relief. The Petition is denied, the stay previously imposed by the Court of Appeals is lifted, and the appeal is dismissed,” stated the ruling signed by Associate Chief Justice Matthew B. Durrant.
The court justices otherwise gave no reason for their decision.
Abram Harker Jeffs appeared before Judge Barbara Walther on Monday to ask for a free copy of the court reporters record of his trial for use in a planned appeal. Jeffs was convicted in of Sexual Assault of a Child and sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Special to The Eldorado Success
In a terse, two sentence ruling, the Utah Supreme Court Tuesday afternoon lifted a stay preventing the extradition of FLDS Prophet Warren Steed Jeffs to Texas. The court also dismissed his appeal of a lower court’s ruling.