{"id":290,"date":"2007-11-07T15:39:06","date_gmt":"2007-11-07T15:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2007\/11\/papers-polygamist-leader-tried.php"},"modified":"2007-11-07T15:39:06","modified_gmt":"2007-11-07T15:39:06","slug":"papers-polygamist-leader-tried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2007\/11\/papers-polygamist-leader-tried","title":{"rendered":"Papers: Polygamist Leader Tried Suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Associated Press – November 7, 2007 <\/strong>
\nSALT LAKE CITY – A polygamous-sect leader tried to hang himself in jail in January, eight months before a jury convicted him of rape as an accomplice, according to court documents.
\nThe disclosure Tuesday was in an evaluation by mental-health expert Eric Nielsen, who examined Warren Jeffs in April and found him depressed but fit for trial.
\nThe suicide attempt was not disclosed in May when a judge released portions of the report.
\nJeffs, 51, is president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was convicted in September of two counts of rape as an accomplice in the 2001 arranged marriage of a 14-year-old follower and her 19-year-old cousin.
\nHe could be sentenced to life in prison later this month. He also faces criminal charges in Arizona and in federal court in Utah.
\nJeffs tried to commit suicide in his cell at the Washington County jail on Jan. 28, Nielsen wrote.
\nAuthorities at the time said Jeffs was taken to a hospital but declined to say what caused the hospital visit or elaborate on Jeffs’ health.
\n“He was interviewed the following day, and his mood was described as somber and dull,” Nielsen wrote. “He has complained that he was feeling anxious.”
\nOn Jan. 30 and Feb. 2, Jeffs threw himself against the walls and banged his head, Nielsen said.
\nIn April, when Nielsen examined him, Jeffs replied “not really” when Nielsen asked whether he had truly intended to kill himself.
\nState District Judge James Shumate on Tuesday released several court filings that had been sealed before the trial. They ranged from reports on Jeffs’ mental health to pretrial disputes about evidence.
\nThe Washington County jail records most phone calls and conversations between inmates and visitors.
\nThough he had appeared to surrender authority over his followers, Jeffs continued to give orders from jail, including instructions on who should live in certain houses. He asked allies to pay his attorneys and “keep a little money in commissary, whatever prison I’m put in, but it’s up to you,” according to the documents.
\nAt one point, Jeffs instructed his flock to “have plenty of supplies in case people needed to return to the land of refuge,” according to a summary of a conversation. The FLDS is a polygamy-practicing sect whose members mostly live in the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.
\nThe mainstream Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, renounced polygamy more than a century ago, excommunicates members who engage in the practice and disavows any connection to the FLDS church.
\nCopyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Associated Press – November 7, 2007 SALT LAKE CITY – A polygamous-sect leader tried to hang himself in jail in January, eight months before a jury convicted him of rape as an accomplice, according to court documents. The disclosure Tuesday was in an evaluation by mental-health expert Eric Nielsen, who examined Warren Jeffs in April…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPapers: Polygamist Leader Tried Suicide<\/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\/news\/2007\/11\/papers-polygamist-leader-tried\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Papers: Polygamist Leader Tried Suicide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Associated Press – November 7, 2007 SALT LAKE CITY – A polygamous-sect leader tried to hang himself in jail in January, eight months before a jury convicted him of rape as an accomplice, according to court documents. 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The disclosure Tuesday was in an evaluation by mental-health expert Eric Nielsen, who examined Warren Jeffs in April…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2007\/11\/papers-polygamist-leader-tried","og_site_name":"Beliefnet News","article_published_time":"2007-11-07T15:39:06+00:00","author":"nsymmonds","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2007\/11\/papers-polygamist-leader-tried","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2007\/11\/papers-polygamist-leader-tried","name":"Papers: Polygamist Leader Tried Suicide","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-11-07T15:39:06+00:00","dateModified":"2007-11-07T15:39:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f960b23e9c3a51222269c557a209b4f2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2007\/11\/papers-polygamist-leader-tried#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2007\/11\/papers-polygamist-leader-tried"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2007\/11\/papers-polygamist-leader-tried#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Papers: Polygamist Leader Tried Suicide"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/","name":"Beliefnet News","description":"Top Religious News From Around the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f960b23e9c3a51222269c557a209b4f2","name":"nsymmonds","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/13d\/13ddfa3407d6847bc2fbd32a13b67708x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/13d\/13ddfa3407d6847bc2fbd32a13b67708x96.jpg","caption":"nsymmonds"},"description":"Nicole Symmonds is Beliefnet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Prayer editor and also covers Christianity. A New Yorker by birth but a Floridian by tenure, Nicole graduated from Florida A&M University with a B.S. in Public Relations and a minor in Sociology. She moved to NY to pursue a career in journalism which started at In Style magazine. There she learned the ropes of magazine reporting, researching, and writing\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand became exponentially more stylish. But what seemed like a deep interest in fashion and entertainment would soon be revealed as merely the vehicle that moved her closer to discovering her purpose, writing and covering matters of the Christian faith. While in her purpose-driven vehicle she can be found traveling between Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens for life, work and worship, respectively. 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