St. George, USA - They have listened to two accounts of the events that led to felony charges against polygamous sect leader Warren S. Jeffs.
Now, a jury must decide which one to believe and what the law says about it.
On one side: A young woman who says that at age 14 she unwillingly entered a marriage and a sexual relationship because her faith and Jeffs required it.
On the other: A former husband who says she initiated sex, no force ever occurred and Jeffs counseled him to be loving and kind.
Attorneys will make their final arguments this morning before 5th District Judge James L. Shumate hands the case to the jury.
First, the
Warren Jeffs Trial, Day Six
judge will tell four of the 12 jurors they are alternates and excuse them from the deliberations.
If the jury does not reach a decision by 5 p.m. today, Shumate will give them the weekend off and bring them back Monday.
Jeffs is accused of two counts of being an accomplice to rape based on the 2001 marriage he conducted between the 14-year-old girl, known publicly as Jane Doe, and her 19-year-old cousin Allen Steed. Jeffs is the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which has about 6,000 members in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.
The charges against Jeffs, 51, are punishable by five years to life in prison; he has spent more than a year in jail already.
Whatever happens in the Utah trial won't be the end of Jeffs' legal troubles. The Mohave County, Ariz., attorney filed two cases against him recently, including one based on Jane Doe's allegations. Federal authorities also have an unlawful flight to avoid prosecution case pending against Jeffs.
But three initial cases filed against Jeffs in Arizona in 2005 collapsed for various reasons.
The status of the other charges could be affected by what happens in the Utah trial.
Among the central questions for jurors: Who pushed Doe's marriage? And, did a rape occur?
Doe, now 21 and remarried, said her objections to the marriage and to having sexual intercourse were ignored, particularly by Jeffs, whom she said "overlooked the fact that this was something I did not want to do or was willing to do."
But one state witness testified that Fred Jessop, Doe's stepfather and second counselor in the FLDS church, "put the marriage together" and Jeffs was the "errand boy" who carried it out for his father, then-prophet Rulon T. Jeffs. Sect members believe marriages are arranged through divine revelation received by their prophet.
And Doe acknowledged she had, in the past, blamed her mother, who "had a lot of influence on me at that time."
While Doe's family knew of her despair, none of them intervened and instead made her a wedding dress and decorated a "honeymoon hideout" for the couple.
Three weeks after they were married, Doe alleges she was raped for the first time. She said Steed undressed her as she pleaded for him to stop, told her it was time to be a wife and proceeded to have sex with her. Doe told jurors she felt "dirty and used" afterward.
Steed said he had fallen asleep that night in his work clothes. Doe later awoke him and then let things progress without protest. He denied ever forcing his wife to have sex, which he said would have been contrary to FLDS teachings.
Doe acknowledged she never told friends or family she was being raped and never went to police with the allegation until after filing a civil lawsuit against Jeffs.
Steed, 26 and a bachelor, has not been charged with a crime.
Steed described the marriage as "rocky" from the start and Doe said she couldn't stand to be within 10 feet of her husband.
Both sought counsel from Jeffs, meeting with him together once and several times each on their own.
Steed said Jeffs advised him to go slow, be kind and work on getting her to "love me to the point she would obey me because she loved me."
Doe said she told Jeffs her husband was "doing things I don't understand" but was told to repent and "obey her husband mind, body and soul" or risk loss of her heavenly salvation.
Jurors heard from four state witnesses: Doe, two of her older sisters and a Canadian midwife who treated Doe for a miscarriage in 2002.
They also listened to hours of Jeffs' audio recordings, selected by the state to show that FLDS women like Doe are expected to obey husbands and religious leaders.
The defense called just 10 of its 70 witnesses, including nine faithful FLDS members who offered an unprecedented look - one at odds with Doe's claims - into the culture's courtship and marriage practices.
The defense offered its own transcripts and records of FLDS teachings to show women are given ultimate say when it comes to sexual relations and are to follow husbands and prophets only when they act righteously.