Texas polygamist gets life in child sex case

The leader of a Texas polygamist sect that saw more than 450 of its children seized in a police raid was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for his "spiritual marriage" to two young girls.Warren Jeffs, considered a prophet by his Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, showed no reaction as the jury's sentence was delivered after less than an hour of deliberation.His reclusive sect was thrust into the spotlight in 2008 when Texas police raided a sprawling compound near the small town of Eldorado and seized 468 young boys and girls amid allegations of systemic sexual and physical abuse. The children were soon returned to their parents when a court ruled that officials had overstepped their authority.However, the evidence gathered during the raid was damning. Documents recovered showed that Jeffs had taken 78 illegal wives -- 24 of whom were underage. He even married two 12-year-old girls to himself in a single day. He was also shown to be a party to 550 bigamous marriages, of which 67 were younger than the legal age.Jurors heard audio tapes recovered in the raid.One included the ritualistic rape of a 12-year-old girl performed by Jeffs in front of other women."If the world knew what I was doing, they would hang me from the highest tree," Jeffs was quoted as saying after he talked of taking a 13-year-old girl as a child bride. Prosecutor Eric Nichols alluded to that remark in his closing arguments. "We don't hang convicts any more from the highest tree," he said. "We chose to isolate, to incapacitate."Jeffs had been put on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list in May 2006 for charges of accomplice to rape in Utah.He was caught outside of Las Vegas in August 2006, but his conviction on two charges stemming out of the arranged marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old first cousin was overturned last year by a Utah court. Jeffs was found guilty Thursday in the Texas case of sexually assaulting the 12-year-old girl in 2006 and fathering a child with a 15-year-old girl in 2005, a claim backed by DNA evidence presented by prosecutors.A tall, slender man perpetually stooped in court, Jeffs fired a team of Texas attorneys early on in the trial and chose to represent himself.He gave no opening statement, but preached during the trial about how the government was violating the right to religious freedom, even submitting an affidavit from God asking for presiding 51st District Judge Barbara Walther to be removed. Jeffs is the eighth man to be convicted of crimes such as sexual assault and bigamy through evidence found in the raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch. The other convicts' sentences have ranged from six to 75 years in prison.The jury handed down the maximum sentence permitted under Texas law: life in prison for the first count of aggravated sexual assault and an additional 20 years for the second count of sexual assault. He must also pay a $10,000 fine.The FLDS church is said to have about 10,000 members.