San Angelo, USA - A Texas judge Tuesday morning ordered a recess in the trial of polygamous leader Warren Jeffs after the accused child-bride rapist repeatedly objected to new testimony.
Jeffs launched a flurry of objections when a Texas ranger took the stand in District Judge Barbara Walther’s courtroom and began reading dictations from Jeffs regarding property that would later become the his sect’s Yearning for Zion Ranch in El Dorado, Texas.
As he has for days, Jeffs repeatedly rose to claim prosecutors and the court were persecuting him and his polygamous sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
“The court is allowing open use of the Lord’s name for religious deceit,” Jeffs said at one point before Walther stopped proceedings, ordered the jury out of the courtroom and called a recess.
On Monday, prosecutors submitted a photograph of a then-15-year-old girl holding a baby in her arms — a baby they said DNA testing showed that Jeffs had fathered.
A forensic DNA expert testified Monday in Jeffs’ sexual assault trial there is a 99.99996 percent probability that Jeffs fathered the child.
The photo was one of dozens presented by prosecutors. They include images of the then-15-year-old while pregnant in 2005, and another of her posing with a portrait of Jeffs along with another pregnant sister wife.
The teen is one of two girls Jeffs is accused of taking as plural wives. The other girl was 12 when she allegedly became a child bride in 2006.
Several photos show Jeffs cuddling and kissing the 12-year-old.