Polygamous cult leader Warren Jeffs was sentenced yesterday, but it turns out this was only the latest chapter in the nation's 120-year-old war on plural marriage.
From today's Times:
Polygamist Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison
By JOHN DOUGHERTY
ST. GEORGE, Utah, Nov. 20 — The polygamous leader of a fundamentalist Mormon sect was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years to life in prison for forcing a 14-year-old girl to “spiritually” marry her 19-year-old cousin and commanding the naïve bride to submit to sexual relations against her will.
The defendant, Warren S. Jeffs, 51, was convicted by a jury in September of two counts of acting as an accomplice to a rape. Judge James L. Shumate of the Fifth District Court imposed two consecutive sentences of five years to life in prison. The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole has the authority to parole Mr. Jeffs at any time, but a spokesman, Jack Ford, said it would be unlikely to do so before his first hearing in three to four years.
The archives contain a rogues gallery of Jeffs' brethren. Meet Edward Brain, who was sentenced in 1885 -- five years before the Mormon church banned polygamy as part of a deal to gain statehood for Utah. Notice that there has been substantial judicial inflation in 122 years. Alas, gone are the days when judges spoke of hypocrisy let alone blasphemy.
October 3, 1885
A POLYGAMIST SENTENCEDSalt Lake City, Utah, Oct. 2.--Edward Brain was convicted of unlawful cohabitation to-day. His latest wife, a Danish girl, testified freely as to their marital relations. Brain made a long statement to the court, maintaining the truth of his belief, of which he said he was assured by a direct revelation of God to himself. His covenants, he said, were made for all eternity, and he would stand by them at all hazards. Judge Zane reminded Brain that two of his wives in this "eternal covenant" of which he spoke were already divorced from him. His first wife was dishonored in her old age. To task of this being an "eternal covenant" under Divine command was blasphemy, and he was tried of hearing such hypocritical cant. The court sentenced Brain to six months in jail and to pay a fine of $300.
And more from 50 years later. Wife two has the perfect name for being outed in an embarrassing news story.
December 14, 1935
POLYGAMISTS SENTENCEDKingman, Ariz, Dec. 13 (AP)-- I.C. Spencer and Price Johnson were sentenced today to serve eighteen months to two years in the Arizona Penitentiary for polygamy.
They were members of a strange cult at remote Short Creek, Ariz. Spencer admitted having a wife and nine children in Utah and a wife and four children at Short Creek. The latter is Sylvia Allred.
Johnson admitted having one wife with seven children and another with three.
Both men pleaded religious beliefs as their defense, contending that they were followers of the "real Mormons" the Latter Day Saints Church having rejected polygamy long ago.
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