St. George, USA - Jane Doe's older sisters testified Monday that they and the rest of her family knew the 14-year-old did not want to marry her cousin and expressed their concerns to church leaders but none of the family took action to stop the ceremony.
Rebecca Musser, a plural wife of then-prophet Rulon T. Jeffs, advised Doe to speak with Fred Jessop, her stepfather; the prophet; and his son Warren, then a counselor.
It was Jessop who had "put the marriage together" and refused to change his mind, Musser said.
A day or so before the marriage took place in 2001, Musser went to her own husband to relay Doe's concerns. Rulon Jeffs' response: "What the hell is Fred thinking?" Musser said.
Warren Jeffs, according to Musser, then explained that Jessop was insisting that the marriage take place and that "because of who he is we'd like to honor his request."
Jessop, now deceased, was the bishop of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and second counselor in the faith.
"There was nothing we could do to stop it," said Musser, who like Doe said FLDS teachings prevented them from doing anything but going along with the divinely inspired marriage.
To have opposed it would have caused a great embarrassment to the family, Musser said, and even caused Doe or the family to be exiled from the faith.
Musser instead helped make Doe's wedding dress, describing her as sobbing so heavily at times that fitting the lace on the bodice was difficult. She also helped decorate Doe's bedroom as a "honeymoon hideout," placing chocolates, cookies and a congratulatory poster on the newly installed queen-sized bed.
"You did not believe when you were decorating the room . . . that you were encouraging the rape of your sister?" asked Walter F. Bugden, one of Jeffs' attorneys.
"Not in those words, no," she said.
Jane Doe's real name is not being disclosed but her surname is different from that of her sisters.
Jeffs is charged with two counts of being an accomplice to rape related to Doe's marriage to her 19-year-old cousin. The trial, now in its third day, will resume tomorrow.
In earlier testimony, defense attorney Tara Isaacson also hammered home the point that others around Doe, particularly her mother and Jessop, encouraged her to go ahead with the marriage.
And in an interview with police, Doe blamed her mother for her marriage, Isaacson pointed out.
"She had a lot of influence on me at that time," Doe said. She also said that she gave in "as much as someone can agree against their will."
Doe also acknowledged she never told her mother, sisters or friends she was being raped.
Earlier Monday, defense attorney Tara Isaacson focused on showing that other people around Doe -- her mother, her stepfather Fred Jessop and at least one sister -- encouraged her to proceed with the marriage to her 19-year-old cousin.
She discussed the topic often with Jessop during the two years she lived in his home, Doe acknowledged.
And in an interview years later with police, Doe blamed her mother for her marriage, Isaacson pointed out.
"She had a lot of influence on me at that time," Doe said. She also said that she gave in "as much as someone can agree against their will."
Isaacson also questioned Doe about whether she told anyone her husband was raping her -- family, friends or Jeffs.
"Did you ever clearly and specifically tell Warren Jeffs about your sexual relationship with [your husband]?" Isaacson asked her.
Doe answered yes, but later agreed she had said only that her husband was "touching her and doing things I don't understand."
The FLDS don't use such terms as sexual intercourse, she said.
She also answered yes when asked if her former husband had ever raped her. Doe testified in a previous hearing he had never used force with her.
Doe said she had met with Jeffs five times but had only told the jury about one meeting.
"You can't remember the exact words Warren used in every meeting?" Isaacson asked her.
"That was an extremely hard time for me and I was a 14-year-old girl," Doe said.
Isaacson provided the jury with a different take on the couple's relationship, showing love notes Doe's husband wrote her.
"He could say he loved me all he wanted," she said.
Isaacson also questioned Doe's motives for participating in the criminal case, getting the young woman to acknowledge she first met with a civil attorney and filed a lawsuit seeking a monetary award before sharing her rape story with investigators.
Isaacson picked at other discrepancies in Doe's testimony last Friday, what she said at a preliminary hearing last November and to investigators last January.
Doe acknowledged that, contrary to her testimony Friday, Jeffs did not immediately say "her heart was in the wrong place" after a meeting with then prophet Rulon T. Jeffs.
Warren Jeffs gave a sermon, conferred with his father and then told Doe that.
Doe also acknowledged her mother accompanied her to the meeting but waited outside the meeting room. Doe agreed that she told investigators in January 2006 that Jeffs had said, "The prophet wants me to remind you this is the right thing for you and you will go forward."
Doe also said she did not provide prosecutors with the recorded lessons by Jeffs played last week, acknowledging she had never heard some of them until they were played for her. She also said her civil attorneys, Roger and Greg Hoole, sat in on meetings with prosecutors as they prepared for the trial.