Our Turkey of the Week award goes to Warren Jeffs, a convicted cult leader who recently won a new trial.
Jeffs served as the so-called “prophet” of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) a cult that broke away from the Mormon church when the latter disaowed the practise of polygamy (having multiple spouses). FLDS doctrine holds that the “prophet” is a direct relation of Jesus. Jeffs presided over unfortunate FLDS flocks in rural Utah and Arizona. The sect also has branches in Texas, Bountiful British Columbia, and other locales.
In 2007, the state of Utah convicted Jeffs of felony rape as an accomplice for arranging the forced marriage of a 14 year-old girl and her 19 year-old first cousin and tossed him into prison. On July 27, 2010, the Utah Supreme Court dismissed the conviction and ordered a new trial after concluding that the jury in the original case received misleading instructions before deliberating.
By all accounts, Jeffs was a domineering theocratic dictator.
Besides practising polygamy (apparently taking on dozens of brides himself), Jeffs routinely arranged marriages between underage girls and elderly men and switched wives among families at whim. FLDS critics also accuse him of ignoring widespread physical abuse of church wives and children.
If nothing else, Jeffs was an equal opportunity tyrant, excommunicating hundreds of teenage boys for such crimes as wearing short sleeved shirts, listening to rock ‘n roll or just having a bad attitude. These lost boys were typically dumped on the highway and left to fend for themselves, with no contact with their families.
Jeffs preached a screwball theology that espoused mindless obedience (to himself), total domination of husbands over multiple wives and their numerous off-spring, disdain for anyone outside the cult, racism against blacks and the imminent Apocalypse.
Fortunately, Jeffs’ triumph might be short-lived—the state of Texas is eager to charge him with new offences, including bigamy and sexual assault of a child.
