Potential jurors culled in Warren Jeffs trial

ST. GEORGE, Utah -- More than 200 people summoned as prospective jurors in the trial of a polygamous sect's leader reported to a convention center Friday to answer questions about religion, plural marriage and any ties to potential witnesses.

Because of the large pool, 5th District Judge James Shumate turned a room at the Dixie Center into a temporary courtroom.

The 75-item questionnaire was the first step in jury selection in the case against Warren Jeffs, 51, who is charged with first-degree felony rape as an accomplice. A young woman claims she was forced into a spiritual marriage with a 19-year-old cousin in 2001 when she was 14.

At trial, the jury will be asked to decide whether Jeffs, head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, knowingly encouraged the cousin to have unlawful sex with the girl against her will, according to proposed jury instructions filed by prosecutors.

The trial, to begin Wednesday, could be postponed and moved 300 miles north to Salt Lake County if Shumate finds he can't seat an impartial jury because of media coverage before and after Jeffs was captured near Las Vegas in August 2006.

The court's questionnaire asked potential jurors how much they knew about the case based on TV, radio or newspaper reports and also asked for an opinion on the accuracy of those stories.

Prospective jurors were also asked whether they were current or former members of the mainstream Mormon church, the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Potential jurors also were asked about any affiliations with Jeff's FLDS church or past or present members.

"Are you willing to put aside any feelings you have about the FLDS church and reach a verdict based solely on the evidence in this case?" the survey asks.

A similar question asked about polygamy, a tenet central to FLDS beliefs, although it's not an issue in this case.

Once part of Mormon doctrine, polygamy was dropped by the Mormon church as a condition of Utah's statehood in 1890. The FLDS, however, continues the practice. There are an estimated 10,000 church members, living mostly in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

Interviews with potential jurors are planned for next week behind closed doors.