Defense works on Jeffs’ image

ST. GEORGE, Utah -- After listening to stories of rigid lifestyles, jurors in the trial of a polygamous-sect leader heard a different tale Tuesday as defense witnesses countered claims that women in their church must be submissive and blindly obedient.

Prosecutors rested their case with just three witnesses, and Warren Jeffs' defense team immediately sought to soften his image and that of his Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Jeffs, president of the church, is charged with two counts of rape by accomplice for his role in the 2001 spiritual marriage between a 14-year-old follower and her 19-year-old cousin.

Washington County prosecutors contend Jeffs, 51, used his influence as the No. 2 leader at that time to push the girl into the arranged marriage and submit to unwanted sex.

But nine church loyalists -- six women and three men -- said they were trained to respect their spouses, not to rush sexual intimacy, and that decisions to start a family should be mutual.

"It's up to your own personal inspiration and conscience," Jennie Pipkin, 26, testified. "Whatever she feels like is wrong, she does not have to do."

She said she listened to hundreds of hours of lessons from Jeffs and other church leaders.

"I realized that I was supposed to be in charge. The invitation for sexual relations is supposed to be mine," said Pipkin, who has an Internet marketing business and five children.

Another witness, Keneth "Ben" Thomas, said force is not taught in FLDS culture. He said men hold authority but they are taught to lead with the best interests of the family.

"I have no right to force my wife to do anything," Thomas, 34, said.

The nine FLDS members said they did not know their spouses before their weddings. The women said they asked Warren Jeffs' father, Rulon Jeffs, who preceded him as "prophet," to find suitable mates.

None were younger at 17 when they were married. At least one woman married a polygamist. Some waited weeks, even years, before having sex -- and all said they sought counseling from Jeffs.

"He asked us 'Are you coming together physically?' And it was pretty obvious that we weren't," said Joanna Keate, 25, who delayed sex for nearly two years. "And he said 'That will come in its own time.'"

During cross-examination, prosecutors noted that none of the defense witnesses were young teens placed in marriages over their objections or with a close relative.

The prosecution's main witness and her sisters, all former FLDS members, portrayed a patriarchal society where obedience is expected and wives cannot question or refuse their husbands, including in sexual matters.

The teen bride, now 21, testified earlier that objections to her marriage to an older cousin and his subsequent sexual advances were ignored by church leaders. She said Jeffs refused to release her from the marriage.

Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday after presenting three witnesses over four days and playing recorded sermons by Jeffs and others.

A 30-minute sermon from 2002 showed FLDS leaders were concerned about increased scrutiny by Utah and Arizona authorities concerned about underage marriages.

"We are born to this conflict," said Sam Barlow, a church member and former marshal in Colorado City, Ariz., a small community on the Utah-Arizona border dominated by FLDS members.

"We cannot shirk it or turn away from it for a moment," he said.

The young woman left the FLDS church and the marriage to her cousin in 2004 after becoming pregnant with another man's child. The Associated Press generally does not name people alleging sexual abuse.