Papers Sought in Polygamy Case
SALT LAKE CITY – News organizations asked a judge Wednesday to unseal court papers in the criminal case against polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.
Lawyers for the news media want Judge James L. Shumate in St. George to unseal a petition filed April 5 and an order he signed the same day. They also asked to be notified before any other court papers are sealed so that they may be given a chance to fight it.
“I am advised these documents may deal with substantive pretrial matters, such as the defendant’s competency to stand trial,” media lawyer David C. Reymann wrote to Shumate on Wednesday.
Jeffs, 51, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is accused of commanding a 14-year-old girl to submit herself to a 19-year-old cousin in an arranged marriage in 2001.
Jeffs has pleaded not guilty to the two felony counts of rape by accomplice.
Jeffs’ attorney, Walter F. Bugden, refused to comment.
Reymann filed the request on behalf of The Associated Press, The Salt Lake Tribune, the Deseret Morning News and other parties.
Jeffs has led the FLDS church since 2004. The sect split from mainstream Mormonism after the broader church renounced polygamy in 1890.