Defense in polygamist’s case opens

ROBERT LEE, Texas -- A "sealing" ceremony performed by a polygamist ex-bishop between his leader, Warren Jeffs, and an underage girl differs from a marriage ceremony as defined by Texas law, the former bishop's attorney told a jury on Tuesday.

Fredrick Merril Jessop, 75, is charged with a felony count of performing an illegal 2006 wedding ceremony between Jeffs and an underage girl. The ceremony occurred at the Yearning For Zion Ranch near Eldorado, owned by the Jeffs-led Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The FLDS holds polygamy as a fundamental belief, and its men take multiple wives in what are termed "celestial marriages" in a ceremony called "sealing."

Rae Leifeste of San Angelo told jurors in her opening statement at Jessop's trial Tuesday that "sealing" is not a marriage ceremony as defined by Texas law, according to the San Angelo Standard-Times .

Before Leifeste spoke, prosecutor Angel Goodwin laid out the prosecution's case.

"The state will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that on July 27, 2006, Fredrick Merril Jessop married a freckled, 12-year-old girl to a 50-year-old man," he said.

If convicted, Jessop could be sentenced to two to 10 years in prison and fined up to $10,000.

Jeffs' Utah-based church practices polygamy in arranged marriages that sometimes involve underage girls. The faith believes polygamy brings exaltation in heaven.

Authorities raided the sect's Eldorado ranch in 2008 after a telephone call alleging the abuse of an underage bride by her husband was placed to a domestic violence hot line. More than 400 children were temporarily removed from the ranch and placed in state protective custody.

Although the call was later investigated as a hoax, prosecutors have used family and church records seized in the raid to bring charges against 12 sect members, all men, including Jessop and Jeffs.

In August, Jeffs was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting two of his child brides. Prosecutors said Jeffs had a total of two dozen underage wives.

Prosecutors say one of Jessop's daughters was married to Jeffs at age 12. The girl was the only child from the West Texas ranch to remain in foster care after the courts ordered that the children removed during the raid must be returned to their parents.

Concerns over the difficulty of choosing an unbiased jury in sparsely populated Schleicher County, where the ranch is located, prompted the judge to move Jessop's trial about 70 miles north to Coke County.