Jeffs' lawyers appeal rape convictions

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Lawyers for polygamy sect leader Warren Jeffs have appealed their client's convictions of being an accomplice to rape.

They are asking the Utah Supreme Court to grant Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints Church, a new trial and reverse his 2007 convictions, the (Salt Lake City) Deseret News reported Thursday.

Jeffs was convicted of presiding over a 2001 marriage ceremony in which a then 14-year-old girl, Elissa Wall, was wed to her 19-year-old cousin, Allen Steed, the newspaper reported.

Jeffs' lawyers say the court erred when it imposed two consecutive terms of five years to life in prison instead of concurrent sentences.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's office has 60 days to respond with its own legal brief, the newspaper said.