{"id":217,"date":"2010-07-28T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-28T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beliefbeat\/2010\/07\/polygamist-flds-leader-warren-jeffs-conviction-overturned.html"},"modified":"2010-07-28T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-07-28T07:00:00","slug":"polygamist-flds-leader-warren-jeffs-conviction-overturned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2010\/07\/polygamist-flds-leader-warren-jeffs-conviction-overturned.html","title":{"rendered":"Conviction Overturned for Polygamist FLDS Leader Warren Jeffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Utah’s Supreme Court has reversed polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs’ conviction on two counts of rape as an accomplice and sent the case back for a new trial, saying there were “serious errors” in instructions given to the jurors considering his role in the 2001 marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin. Check out The Salt Lake Tribune<\/a> and the Associated Press <\/a>for the story; Religion Clause has more on the legal details<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jeffs, 54, is currently serving two consecutive terms of five years to life in Utah State Prison. Similar charges against him in Arizona were dropped <\/a>last month. He’s still facing charges of bigamy, sexual assault and aggravated assault in Texas; his attorney has said Jeffs plans to oppose extradition.<\/p>\n

For more on Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS — not to be confused with the LDS Mormons), check out the Salt Lake Tribune’s Polygamy page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Maybe I’ve watched too much Big Love<\/em>, but polygamy and rape are illegal; why is it so hard to get convictions in these FLDS cases? What do you think? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.<\/p>\n

*Click here to <\/span>subscribe to Belief Beat <\/span><\/strong><\/a>and <\/span>click here to <\/span>follow Belief Beat on Twitter.<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Utah’s Supreme Court has reversed polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs’ conviction on two counts of rape as an accomplice and sent the case back for a new trial, saying there were “serious errors” in instructions given to the jurors considering his role in the 2001 marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin. Check…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nConviction Overturned for Polygamist FLDS Leader Warren Jeffs - Belief Beat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2010\/07\/polygamist-flds-leader-warren-jeffs-conviction-overturned.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conviction Overturned for Polygamist FLDS Leader Warren Jeffs - Belief Beat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Utah’s Supreme Court has reversed polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs’ conviction on two counts of rape as an accomplice and sent the case back for a new trial, saying there were “serious errors” in instructions given to the jurors considering his role in the 2001 marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin. Check…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2010\/07\/polygamist-flds-leader-warren-jeffs-conviction-overturned.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Belief Beat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-07-28T07:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nicole Neroulias\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Conviction Overturned for Polygamist FLDS Leader Warren Jeffs - Belief Beat","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2010\/07\/polygamist-flds-leader-warren-jeffs-conviction-overturned.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Conviction Overturned for Polygamist FLDS Leader Warren Jeffs - Belief Beat","og_description":"Utah’s Supreme Court has reversed polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs’ conviction on two counts of rape as an accomplice and sent the case back for a new trial, saying there were “serious errors” in instructions given to the jurors considering his role in the 2001 marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin. 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