Trial starts for polygamist leader charged with having sex with underage girls

During opening arguments in the trial of Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, Texas prosecutors said they’ll present an audio tape of Warrens having sex with a 12-year-old and proof that he impregnated another 15-year-old – girls he claims are his “spiritual wives.”

Jeffs, 55, considered the spiritual leader, or “prophet,” of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is charged with child sexual assault and aggravated child sexual assault. The charges stem from a massive police raid in April 2008 at Yearning for Zion, an FLDS outpost Jeffs founded in remote west Texas in 2003.

FLDS, which has been condemned by the mainstream Mormon church for forcing underage girls to marry much older men, teaches its followers that practicing polygamy will guarantee them eternal life in heaven.

Thursday’s court session started with Warrens announcing he was firing his seven attorneys and representing himself, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

“My counsel doesn’t have the full understanding of the facts and are unable to assist in my defense,” Jeffs told state District Judge Barbara Walther. “I have trained my defense, but they were unable to do what I said. I am presenting the need for true justice to be presented and for the truth to come out.”

After a 30-minute sidebar, Judge Walther reluctantly agreed to let Jeffs represent himself. Yet when she later called on him to make his opening statement, Jeffs remained mute. Judge Walther called a recess and asked his fired attorneys to advise him on the consequences of refusing to put on a defense.

Earlier Thursday morning, Jeffs had also been silent – refusing to enter a plea, so the court entered a “not guilty” plea for him and recessed until opening arguments, Reuters reports. Jeffs has fired numerous lawyers in the months leading up to the trial, which prosecutors claim are stunts to delay facing the charges, which could put him in prison for life.