Polygamist leader's sentence is 5-to-life

ST. GEORGE, Utah, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Warren Jeffs, the leader of a polygamous sect, was sentenced to two consecutive 5 years-to-life terms in Utah for forcing a 14-year-old girl into marriage.

Jeffs made no public statement at his sentencing hearing Tuesday, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. His lawyer said he planned to appeal the rape conviction, calling it "unfair."

In September, a jury convicted Jeffs of two counts of accomplice rape. At his trial, Elissa Wall said that she didn't want to marry her cousin, Allen Steed, or to have sex with him. Steed testified for the defense.

Jeffs is the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, a breakaway Mormon group. Most of the church's members live in towns on the Utah-Arizona border.

Jeffs faces similar charges in Arizona.