Posted on 07/28/2011 4:07:36 PM PDT by MizSterious
WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press
Updated 04:34 p.m., Thursday, July 28, 2011
SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs dismissed his high-powered defense team and began representing himself Thursday in a last-ditch attempt to delay the start of his sexual assault trial.
With opening statements set to begin, the 55-year-old ecclesiastical head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints said he had spent extensive time training his lawyers, but they weren't able to present "a pure defense." He then pleaded for more time to prepare the case by himself.
Jeffs burned through seven attorneys in six months and prosecutors had complained his frequent switching of counsel was a delay tactic. But special prosecutor Eric Nichols, representing the Texas attorney general's office, said he'd be willing to stop the trial until Monday if Jeffs represented himself.
State District Judge Barbara Walther allowed Jeffs to become his own lawyer but refused to delay the case even as Jeffs sat alone at the defense table, rising every few minutes to mumble about how not delaying it would be a grave injustice.
The judge barreled onward, hearing a pretrial motion Jeffs' lawyers had previously filed seeking to suppress evidence from when Jeffs was arrested after a 2006 traffic stop in Nevada. "Is the defense ready to proceed?" she asked.
(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...
Wow. Well, when I do my news searches for trial news, I see some listings in other languages. So yes, the world is watching this trial. I think they’ll see something more like justice from this trial, in part because of the excellent judge, and partly because the folks in the San Angelo area seem a little more level-headed than the FL dingbats.
Awww, I was kinda hoping they wouldn't find these threads!
And I fully understand why. But you have to admit the threads get really really interesting. :)
And I confess, several of them are Mormon/Mormon Defenders that I haven’t played with in awhile and I miss them.
I think you can count on FR's "lecturer-in-chief" to show up and post comment after comment declaring he is "not defending polygamy"...while chastizing others for their comments, the way he did on earlier FLDS threads.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/2011-08-01/webextra6.php
I pinged myself and answered me nothing.
Worth the click! Thanks!
Does anyone know where to find transcripts of the testimony? I’d love to share the full “sickness and death proclamation” but so far, the only copy I can find is from a verboten site that can’t be quoted. Some say we can’t even link them. I hope they are not the only ones who have it!
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