Hildale, USA - The news of Warren S. Jeffs' conviction on two counts of rape as an accomplice caused no apparent stir in Hildale, home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose followers consider Jeffs to be their prophet.
As usual, the blinds were drawn in most of the homes here and in Colorado City, Ariz. - where townspeople rarely if ever speak to outsiders - and girls with braids wearing their traditional long dresses rode horses bareback along Utah Avenue under a crisp, cloudless autumn sky.
Mechanics worked on cars at Xpress Lube, and customers bought gas at the Border Store and hamburgers at the Merry Wives restaurant next door.
But to Isaac Wyler, who was kicked out of the FLDS church by Jeffs in January 2004, the verdict was good news.
"I'm happy and glad," Wyler said. "It needed to happen. It will slow underage marriages around here, and make people realize that just because the prophet says it is so, doesn't make it so."
Wyler also believes that the nature of the sentence imposed on Jeffs for arranging the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin is crucial. Each of the two counts carries a possible sentence of five years to life in prison.
"A year in jail will be like a rap on the fingers, and underage marriages could continue," he said. "In prison, it could be different. His conversations will be recorded. But the fact he's in prison could affect his followers."
That said, Wyler does not expect those followers to waver in their devotion. They will take the verdict to mean "that they are a persecuted people and their prophet is being persecuted," he said.
Calls to Hildale Mayor David Zitting were not immediately returned Tuesday.
Former FLDS member Ben Bistline, author of The Polygamous History of Colorado City, was unsurprised by the verdict but foresees little change in the polygamous community.
"The decision will not make much of a difference in the lifestyle of Jeffs' followers," he said. "What has made a difference is the appointment of a fiduciary over the [United Effort Plan]."
Bistline was referring to a trust, established by FLDS members nearly 70 years ago, that holds virtually all land and buildings in the twin towns of Colorado City and Hildale.
A Utah court took over the UEP in 2005 after former trustees, including Jeffs, failed to respond to lawsuits targeting its assets. Utah authorities, who also alleged Jeffs and the other trustees had mismanaged those assets, named Bruce R. Wisan as fiduciary.
Bistline, a former FLDS member who lives in the Cane Beds near Hildale, said people who have been driven from the community by Jeffs "now have some clout and can live in peace in their homes."