"Religion on trial" as polygamist case goes to jury

ST. GEORGE, Utah (Reuters) - Attorneys for polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, on trial as an accomplice to rape, said on Friday "religion was on trial" and the state had overstepped its bounds in bringing the case.

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"The State has gone crazy ... to charge Warren Jeffs with the crime of rape," attorney Walter Bugden said in closing arguments to the jury, which began deliberations on the two felony counts late on Friday.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued Jeffs knew when he arranged and presided over the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin against her will in 2001 that forced sex would follow.

"This was a violation of trust by a man with power over a 14-year-old girl," prosecutor Brock Belnap said during a passionate argument to the packed courtroom, where Jeffs sat impassively beside his defense team.

Jeffs, 51, is the self-described "prophet" of the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or FLDS, a breakaway sect from the early Mormon church that still practices polygamy.

Jeffs is on trial on two counts of being an accomplice to rape, a charge he denies. He is not charged with polygamy but the trial has focused attention on the practice and his secretive sect, whose approximately 7,500 members live in an isolated enclave on the Utah-Arizona border.

The charges each carry a possible sentence of between five years to life in prison.

Jeff's accuser, whose identity is being withheld given the nature of the alleged crime, left the FLDS in 2003 and has since remarried.

The husband has not been charged, but said in a tearful testimony this week he felt "really bad" about the end of their relationship and denied having forced her into sex.

The woman, now 21, has testified Jeffs told her it was her religious duty to give herself to her husband, and instructed her to repent and submit to his will.

In emotional testimony during the trial, the woman said she begged Jeffs not to marry her to her cousin, whom she did not like, and said she wanted to die after her husband first forced her into sex.

Attorneys for Jeffs argued that he could not have known that rape would be committed behind closed bedroom doors, and the accuser was too vague when she told Jeffs about problems in her relationship.

Under Utah law, a person 14 or older can consent to sexual intercourse.

SOLELY RESPONSIBLE?

The trial has riveted Utah, with a majority Mormon population who consider polygamy a thorn in the side of their faith. Polygamy was one of the early tenets of the Mormon religion, but was rejected in 1890 as Utah sought statehood. The FLDS is not associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are called Mormons.

During his two-hour statement, Bugden said the FLDS has a long tradition of following church doctrines, which include arranged marriages, and suggested Jeffs was being persecuted for the beliefs of his church.

But prosecutor Belnap countered with: "In America you can't hurt children in the name of religion and think you can escape the law."

Laying full responsibility with Warren Jeffs was unjust, Bugden argued, since the accuser's mother, step-father and sisters were aware of her objections but did not stop the wedding.

"The idea that this is all laid out at the feet of Warren, that Warren is solely responsible, is not fair," he said.

Jeffs gave no specific time frame when he instructed the couple to "go forth and multiply," Bugden added.