Posted by Polygamous-sect leader Warren Jeffs’ next trial should be held in a larger community such as Tucson, Phoenix or Flagstaff, his attorney, Michael Piccarreta of Tucson, said Monday.
Jeffs, 51, was sentenced to two consecutive terms of five years to life in prison Nov. 20 after being convicted in St. George, Utah, of arranging a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.
Jeffs is head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose members practice polygamy in arranged marriages.
Had Jeffs not been tried in such a small community, Piccarreta said, the outcome of the trial might have been different.
As a result, Piccarreta plans to ask Mohave County Superior Court Judge Steven Conn to move Jeffs’ next trial from Kingman to a different location.
Kingman is in the same county as Colorado City, where — along with the twin border town of Hildale, Utah — FLDS church members live.
