Warren Jeffs Found Guilty

Y'all probably heard this already (I was away from my computer when the verdict came in late  yesterday afternoon).

Anyway, Warren Jeffs was found guilty of both counts, looking at 5 to life for each, with sentencing just before Thanksgiving.

My guess is that now they've found him guilty of something, they'll try him for other crimes (like a federal flight from prosecution charge) so that they can get him into ADX Florence. That might seem like overkill for such a timid looking guy, but the security has been unbelievable in St. George the last few weeks, so they definitely think he is a jailbreak risk with potentially violent followers.

I'm glad they got him, but this is really just a show trial. There's a ton of corruption and fraud at the top of the FLDS hierarchy, and that's what the authorities need to go after. No sign of movement on that front though.

It's sad too. This is a deeply ignorant, and probably mildly retarded fellow, who has been raised in a world where assuming that all your actions are faultless is encouraged. And, he lives in a society that is quite used to deciding that some people are incapable of making mistakes. This is not a recipe for success.

Lastly, the whole idea that there had to be sex involved in order for the authorities to get involved is a sad testament on contemporary America. Teenage girls make bad sexual choices all the time; Jeffs encouraged this in a particular sort of way that isn't all that uncommon in other parts of the world. That doesn't make it a good thing, but we need to recognize that this guy is probably also a statutory rapist - but no one is talking about that personality quirk. Then there is the idea that he made these statutory rapes take place; that's absolutely true, but we don't usually go after gang leaders for encouraging gang rapes - instead we think of that as part of a bigger criminal enterprise.

And there's the rub. The FLDS hierarchy is a criminal racket that engages in a huge number of bad behaviors - and no one cares, or pays attention. If The Crips run a neighborhood where they dominate girls, tell them as teenagers that they need to submit to rape, and assign a gangbanger to do it, the authorities recognize that this is part of a bigger problem and attack on multiple fronts. But, when a bunch of ignorant white folks from the rural west do it in the name of religion, we turn a blind eye to most of their activities. That's got to change.

Comments

[sir jorge]

it's nice to see that justice was served in this case

[Muriel]

It's KSL and the Deseret News, not the Tribune, who are digging on this story (the Trib melery prints that the DesNews is reporting that ). I wish these two outlets would be a little more circumspect in pushing this story. It just looks bad. I could paste here a hundred or more eastern newspaper articles from the 1870s reporting on Brigham Young's health, and rumored withdrawal from business, and supposed rebellion among LDS faithful, and expected demise of the church. They all sound just like what KSL and the DesNews reports. It was ugly then, and it's ugly now, especially when they're interviewing sources who betray their official responsibilities by tattling on jailhouse communications, and who are snooping with with tech photography to read notes that a defendant is holding in his hand.It sounds too much like the Mormons are jubilant (relieved?) that a rival prophet may be exposed as a fraud. Why? What does that have to do with us?

[Dave Tufte]

I tend to agree, but my perception is that the LDS church and members are pulled two ways on this one.

1) I think, if anything, the state has been too soft on the FLDS. This was operating as an organized crime racket. But, I think the state was soft on them because of the 1953 fiasco, but in no small part because the LDS church does not want to be seen as a bully. That wouldn't dovetail with their public relations plan of the last few decades.

2) I think individual members of the LDS church have a lot of explaining to do about how they treat typical members of the FLDS church. I think in many cases they are using their church doctrine as a cover to act like latter day Nazis towards polygamists. I simply don't think that membership in the LDS church confers a grace upon members to act in a way that wouldn't be approved by a general authority.

[Patrick]

When you get right down to it the local bishops eicerxse immense power over members of a ward and the stake presidents have even more power. If you have read a lot of Mormon exit stories you find that these men generally have no theological training, nor do they have any training in counseling, nor have they been called to serve by God who has gifted them with a pastor's heart. They are generally political appointments for those who are great at the fake it 'till you make it game. I know a few bishops outside of the wards and I know they don't meet the qualifications. Two of them don't have a theological bone in their bodies and they certainly don't behave like they expect their congregants to. To be fair there are pastors who misuse their power/position over their congregation but Christians are free to disagree with or challenge a pastor's behavior, which I have done. Specific incidents that I am aware of are giving people callings to which they are not qualified to perform (like making closet drinkers/drug abusers visiting home teachers and boy scout troop den mothers), and making a man who has a stressful full-time job and 4 children plus a newborn a boy scout leader. The man did not want the position and did not have the few hours two days a week necessary to fulfill this calling. When asked why he didn't just say no, the answer was, When the bishop gives you a calling you don't say no. These are just a few instances that I have personal knowledge of that shows that LDS believe that even their bishops are directed by God. The inconsistencies or inappropriate callings are often passed off as testings instead of false-callings or mistakes made by men who are no more influenced by God than the kid bagging your groceries at the supermarket.

[Dave Tufte]

It's not clear to me if this is an anti-FLDS, anti-LDS, or anti-both comment.