Report: Polygamist Jeffs attempted suicide

ST. GEORGE, Utah, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Warren Jeffs, the head of a polygamist sect in Utah, unsuccessfully attempted to kill himself while incarcerated in January, a report said.

Citing unsealed court documents, CNN reported Wednesday that the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints leader tried to hang himself.

The documents said Jeffs, who has been convicted as an accomplice to rape, was put on a suicide watch after the Jan. 28 suicide attempt. The report said Jeffs smashed his head and body into the walls of his Utah jail cell.

CNN said the suicide attempt came just days after Jeffs reportedly met with his brother, Nephi, and informed him of a spiritual revelation.

"I am not the prophet. I never was the prophet, and I have been deceived by the powers of evil," jail transcripts quoted Jeffs as saying. "I ask for everyone's forgiveness."

Jeffs faces the possibility of life in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 20 for his Sept. 25 conviction on two counts of rape by accessory, for arranging a marriage in 2001 between a 14-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man.