ST. GEORGE, Utah, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs is being tried for rape in Utah because the "state has gone crazy," his lawyer said in closing arguments.
Jeffs, 51, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is on trial for being an accomplice to rape of a 14-year-old girl because he allegedly forced her to marry her 19-year-old cousin, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
Jurors recessed until Monday after hearing several hours of closing arguments Friday.
In his final statement, prosecutor Brock Belnap urged jurors to focus on the power Jeffs had over the girl.
"If a 14-year-old girl doesn't want to do it and someone persuades her to do it, she doesn't even have to say no," Belnap told jurors. "No consent, sexual intercourse, rape."
Jeffs' lawyer, Walter F. Bugden Jr., told jurors Jeff is on trial because the "state has gone crazy for political reasons."
Bugden maintained Jeffs' church and his religious beliefs are on trial and "dressed up as a crime called rape."
