St. George, Utah – The judge overseeing the trial of a polygamous-sect leader said Wednesday that polygamists often see themselves involved in a civil-rights struggle, similar to blacks who “refused to sit in the back of the bus” in the 1950s.
Fifth District Judge James Shumate’s explanation occurred during an interview with a prospective juror in the case of Warren Jeffs, the head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, during a discussion of the legality of polygamy.
Polygamy advocates have long contended that the freedom to practice plural marriage as part of their religion is a civil-rights matter.
Jeffs is charged with two felony counts of rape by accomplice in the arranged religious union of a 14-year-old follower and her 19-year-old cousin in 2001.
Polygamy is not an issue in the case, but FLDS members practice polygamy, believing it brings exaltation in heaven, and it probably will emerge at trial.
Polygamy is “held as an intentional act of civil disobedience, just as in the civil-rights era when some members of our African-American community refused to sit in the back of the bus,” Shumate said.
But polygamy, he said, “cannot be allowed by jurors to be a focus of concern.”
Jeffs’ defense attorneys also have used a civil-rights comparison in asking potential jurors if they’re bothered that the sect embraces an illegal practice. It’s part of the detailed questioning designed to ferret out biases or conflicts not revealed by responses to an 11-page questionnaire.
More than 200 people have been excluded as potential jurors. The judge and attorneys had selected 24 of the 28 people wanted for the final pool by lunch Wednesday, and 33 more people were scheduled for interviews in the afternoon.
Opening statements once planned for Wednesday were expected to be delayed.
