By JENNIFER DOBNER
Associated Press Writer
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Attorneys for polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs are asking the Utah Supreme Court to reverse his 2007 criminal conviction and direct a 5th District judge to order a new trial.
Failing that, defense attorneys Walter Bugden, Tara Isaacson and Richard Wright want Utah's high court to order Judge James Shumate to reconsider an earlier motion for a retrial, which alleged the court improperly seated an alternate juror after the start of deliberations. Shumate denied a motion for retrial in April.
The appeal filed Nov. 26 alleges there were improper jury instructions, the substitution of a juror and other trial errors that warrant a rehearing of the case.
The Utah attorney general's office has 60 days to respond.
Head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Jeffs was convicted by a St. George jury of two counts of accomplice rape in September 2007. The charges stemmed from a 2001 religious marriage between Elissa Wall, then just 14, and her 19-year-old cousin, Allen Steed.
The Associated Press does not generally identify people who allege sexual assaults, but Wall, now 22, has spoken publicly about the case and published a book, "Stolen Innocence," which details her life leading up to the trial.
Jeffs, 53, was sentenced to two consecutive prison terms of 5 years to life in the Utah State Prison. The appeal calls the consecutive terms an "abuse of discretion," by Shumate, and unwarranted given the facts of the case.
"At most, Jeffs performed a wedding ceremony and thereafter counseled the couple to make efforts to make the marriage work," the appeal states. "Even if the convictions are sustained, this Court should order that the sentences be served concurrently."
Jeffs is currently in an Arizona jail awaiting a trial on charges related to other underage marriages. He also faces multiple felony indictments in Texas for sexual assault of a child and bigamy.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
