Appendix 3

Warren Jeffs

            This thesis would not be complete without an opinion regarding the conviction of Warren Jeffs of two counts of rape on September 25, 2007. 

            The media interviewed several pundits close to the FLDS and their opinions were pretty much the same, that the jury’s decision was just, and that Warren deserved to be convicted.  Even the pro polygamists fell into line with the conviction suggesting that Warren was the exception and not the rule. But through it all, from the time Warren was placed on the FBI Top Ten, Most Wanted List, there is the impression that Warren is the scapegoat, the poster bad-boy of abuse, and now that society has done its duty, we should put it all behind us and let the benign polygamists get on with their work. At least that seems to be the sentiment in Utah, not Texas.

            What the polygamists are hoping is that Warren will be like John D. Lee, the sacrificial lamb meant to appease the righteous indignation of the gentiles.  For example, there were many other Mormons involved in the murder of California emigrants.  Juanita Brooks in her book, The Mountain Meadows Massacre, names many of the Mormon participants. There were other Mormon leaders just as culpable as Lee, but what looms suspiciously as a deal between Brigham Young and the prosecutors, is that Lee was the only one to be prosecuted.  All the other got a free pass.

            The analogy may be the same.  There are many other self-imposed prophets just as tyrannical and probably more ruthless.  One of course is James D. Harmston.

            One of the elements in the prosecution of Warren Jeffs was “religious coercion.”  There was actually more severe coercion in the case of Rachael Strong (Harmston’s victim) than with Elissa Wall.  So what was the difference between the two cases?  Both were raised as children to obey the prophet.  Both were programed to believe that disobedience would result in damnation.  The difference was their ages and the prosecutors in charge of the cases.  Elissa Wall was fourteen at the time the crime was committed and Rachael was twenty.

            Before, during and after the trial the prosecution side of the trial claimed that the prosecution was not about religion or polygamy, which tends to support the idea that polygamy is a respected religious tenet.

            On the other hand the defense has repeatedly argued that the prosecution of Warren Jeffs was about religious persecution; that Warren was doing nothing more than all his predecessors - giving advise.  Can you see the contradiction in all of this.  It is true Warren was following the tradition of his predecessors, that is using coercion to break down the resistance of a potential wife, but it is incorrect to think that Warren’s prosecution was religious persecution.  Although realistically, Mormon Fundamentalism was on trial along with Warren Jeffs. Polygamy has been a prohibited practice from the inception of Christian principles.

            Lets face it, part of the prophet’s role is using coercion when the female is reluctant to submit.  It is built into Section 132.  To call it religion is ludicrous.  To give respect to a doctrine that capitalizes on coercion is nonsense.  Elissa Wall and Rachael Strong submitted under duress.  Duress was intentionally built into the doctrine to break down the resistance of young girls like Wall and Strong.

            But the issues in the prosecution of Warren Jeffs doesn’t end there.  Wall is a victim, but in a real sense, so is Warren Jeffs - a victim of the teachings of Mormon fundamentalism.

            Warren was raised in a family and community where he had very little exposure to the outside world.  The vast majority of information funneled to his brain had to do with Mormon fundamentalism.  He may have spent some time as a child in public school but what exposure he had there was overridden by the teachings of his father, Rulon C. Jeffs, who succeed to the role of prophet after the death of LeRoy Johnson.

            Warren acted out what he had been programed to do. It is true that he made enemies within his own group but those enemies did not result from doctrine, but Warren’s tyrannical rule.  Like so many autocrats he found “righteous ways” to eliminate those he considered a threat to his power and authority.  That was the source of his downfall, not necessarily teaching the principles of Mormon fundamentalism.

            Warren’s zealousness exhibited signs of narcissism.  It appeared that he succumbed to the “illusion of invulnerability,” in other words, he believed he was actually what he purported to be.  As such, he could not let the arch enemy, government, dictate who and how he shall marry off plural wives.  That was his exclusive domain.  And like so many fundamentalists throughout history, he took the position that God’s law should take precedence over man’s law.

            Warren was only doing what his “religion” expected him to do.  He personified his religion - Mormon fundamentalism.  And although the prosecution maintained it was not about religion, because Warren was the embodiment of that religion - the incarnate example - Mormon fundamentalism was also on trial and should have been found guilty as charged.

            Yes, Warren Jeffs was also a victim, but he knew what he was doing was against the law.  He chose to follow the law of his god rather than the laws of the land.  The law of the land, at least in the land of Utah, has more compassion for young girls than the law of Warren’s god - but not much more.  Utah’s law of the land showed absolutely no compassion, not one iota, for Rachael Strong.  Rachael suffered from the same fear and degradation.  The revulsion was so sever she contemplated suicide.  In Rachael’s rape the perpetrator was an old man, not a nineteen-year-old boy.

            And now that nineteen-year-old boy, Allen Steed, is being charged with rape, according to newspaper accounts, based on the testimony he gave in defense of his prophet.  The jury didn’t believe his story.  On the witness stand he didn’t come across as credible - which is no surprise.  He tried to provide that degree of doubt that would have freed his prophet.  But it didn’t work and the defense attorneys should have foreseen it.  Now it is his turn to be sacrificial lamb.

            Under the law, a child of fourteen cannot give consent.  Therefore, all the prosecution has to do is prove penetration, age, some resistance, and he is history - but is 5 to life under these circumstance justice?

            All three principals are victims - Jeffs, Steed and Wall.  But of the three Jeffs had the power and could have stopped it, but he encouraged it.  Steed was merely doing what he was expected to do, multiply and replenish. But he was nineteen and according to law, should know better.  Therefore he must be made an example and a warning to others that even if the prophet performs a ceremony and commands the couple to multiply and replenish, he is till culpable.  If the state doesn’t prosecute the poor kid, what kind of message will it send.  It is not an exaggeration to say that this poor kid is going to be punished for the sins of an entire subculture - Mormon fundamentalism.

            Will the conviction of Warren Jeffs and Alan Steed end the abuse among Mormon polygamists?  Of course not.  Will the imprisonment of Jeffs cause the FLDS to crumble?  Of course not.  There is too much power, money and sex to be had.  Someone will take Warren Jeffs’ place.  The abuse won’t end until the virus that induces abusive behavior is laid bear and exposed for what it is. Even then, if history is an indicator, as long as men have a working Y-chromosome, polygamy will be with us just as rape, robbery and war will always be with us.

            On April 19, 2011, The Salt Lake Tribune published and article about a book burning by members of the FLDS.  The books had been donated to a library for the people of the twin cities of Colorado City and Hildale.

            To outsides the burning of books is the high-point of idiocy. But from the FLDS point of view it makes perfect sense. 

            The purpose of donating books for a library was to give the inmates of the FLDS a glimpse of the outside world, an assurance that the main stream society is not the demonic Babylon it has been portrayed by the FLDS priesthood.  (Many of FLDS youths are starved for an education.) The FLDS knows this and the burning was symbolic to destroying the evidence.  If anyone ever doubted my contention that organized Mormon fundamentalism is about controlling information, the burning of the books is proof.

            On April 21^st the Tribune did a follow-up article stating that although some books were burned two pallets full of books intended for the library were found at the Deseret Industries Store in nearby Cedar City.  The police were investigating, presumably the Colorado City Police.  If that is who is investigating it is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house.  It would be more accurate to say the priesthood governed Colorado City Police are investigating.  In any event it does not distract from the thesis that missing books, whether burned or given away, is another example of the FLDS attempting to control information. 

            When book burning comes to mind one can’t help thinking of when the Nazis had book burning parties in 1933.  But the Nazis are not the only society that has burned books as an Internet research reveals.  In the early days of Christianity heretical books were burned.  Fortunately many survived – the Dead Sea Scrolls and Gnostic Gospels.  So the FLDS is not alone. 

            (Since writing this the Utah Supreme Court over turned Warren’s conviction on a technicality and sent it back to the District Court to be tried again.  But in the mean time Texas filed a rape complaint against Warren.  He was extradited and now sits in a Texas jail awaiting trial.  It is doubtful that Utah will attempt to retry Warren.)