Lawyer for FLDS teen refuses to testify

SAN ANGELO, Texas, June 26 (UPI) -- A lawyer representing the teenage daughter of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs said she has refused to appear before a Texas grand jury.

The grand jury is investigating allegations that the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints forced underage girls into "spiritual unions" with older men. Natalie Malonis, the court-appointed lawyer for Teresa Jeffs, 16, told the Deseret Morning News in Utah she refused to testify because of lawyer-client privilege.

"The client has to be able to communicate with an attorney and know that those communications are kept confidential," she said.

Jeffs, whose father Warren was convicted in Utah of forcing a teenager to marry her cousin, denies she has been sexually abused. In e-mails she has made public, she has told Malonis she does not think the lawyer is representing her interests.

Malonis told the newspaper she fears a court may rule Jeffs has waived attorney-client privilege. In that case, she could be forced to testify.