Las Vegas – A cooperative victim, a tougher penalty and a shot at higher bail have given Utah authorities the first crack at prosecuting polygamist Warren Steed Jeffs.
The state will request during a brief hearing today in Las Vegas that Jeffs be extradited to Utah to face two counts of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony, for his role in arranging an underage marriage.
Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was arrested Monday night during a routine traffic stop by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper on Interstate 15 just outside of Las Vegas.
He is being held without bail in the Clark County Detention Center, where he is being allowed no visitors, according to a detention-center clerk.
In today’s hearing, expected to last no more than 15 minutes, Jeffs has two options: waive his right to an extradition hearing or fight it. He can fight it only by arguing that he is not the person charged in the case.
So far, no counsel is listed for him, and Nevada is not required to provide him with an attorney for an extradition hearing.
After Jeffs’ capture, Utah and Arizona authorities began strategizing about his prosecution. In a conference call Wednesday, Utah took the lead.
Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap said prosecutors agreed to seek extradition to Utah first because Jeffs is charged with first-degree felonies in Utah, which carry sentences of five years to life in prison. Those are much tougher than the penalty of four months to two years under the Arizona charges, which accuse Jeffs of sexual misconduct involving another arranged marriage.
The stiffer charges mean Jeffs could face a larger bail in Utah, Belnap said, or a judge could decide not to grant bail.
