SAN ANGELO, Texas — Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years Tuesday for engaging in sexual acts with underage girls.
Jurors deliberated for only 40 minutes before sentencing Jeffs to life in prison for one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child and 20 years in prison for one count of sexual assault of a child, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. They also determined that Jeffs must pay a $10,000 fine.
Jeffs, 55, was found guilty last week of sexually abusing two girls, aged 12 and 15, that he took as his brides.
The one-time leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Jeffs showed no reaction when the verdict was read, the San Angelo Standard-Times reported.
In his closing statement, Prosecutor Eric Nichols told the jury that Jeffs had “perverted a religion to his own ends” and had treated both women and children not as human beings but as “property for sexual gratification and child bearing.”
The defense rested in the sentencing portion of the case Monday afternoon without calling any witnesses. Jeffs chose not to be present during the sentencing portion of the trial, and instead was represented by Houston defense lawyer Jed Silverman.
The guilty verdict followed Thursday’s closing arguments, during which Jeffs, acting as his own counsel, spent his allotted 30 minutes in silence for all but the final seconds, when some in the courtroom thought he muttered, “I am at peace,” or “May it please,” before sitting down.
Earlier in the trial, prosecutors presented jurors with multiple recordings of Jeffs and several women, some of whom were thought to be underage, allegedly engaging in sexual acts.
Jeffs could be heard throughout one recording saying “you will be able to come into the heavenly session … and see heavenly visions, the angels, this shall make [you] to come to know God in his power and feel his presence,” and “we offer this prayer in Jesus Christ’s name, amen,” after which several female voices were heard responding “amen.”
Jeffs fired his attorneys and chose to represent himself early in the trial, telling the court his lawyers could not represent his “true defense,” the Tribune said.
The religious leader was convicted in 2007 of forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her 19-year-old cousin. The Utah Supreme Court overturned the conviction last year, citing faulty juror instructions, but Utah prosecutors are considering a retrial after his Texas trial.