Polygamist sect leader convicted

Polygamist sect leader convicted

Reuters News Agency

September 25, 2007 at 5:13 PM EDT

St. George, Utah — U.S. polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was convicted on Tuesday of being an accomplice to rape for arranging a marriage between an unwilling 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old first cousin.

Mr. Jeffs faces five years to life in prison for each of the two felony charges of accomplice to rape. No date was set for sentencing.

The self-described prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints showed no expression as the verdict was read to a court packed with his supporters.

The trial has riveted Utah, the western state with a majority Mormon population. Mr. Jeffs's sect is not associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are called Mormons.