Polygamist fights extradition to Texas

SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- The leader of a polygamist branch of the Mormon Church says he will fight extradition from Utah to Texas to face bigamy and sexual assault charges.

Warren S. Jeffs told Utah District Court Judge Terry Christiansen he would not accept an extradition request issued by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Wednesday.

A dozen men from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints rose to their feet when Jeffs appeared at a short hearing before Christiansen in Salt lake City Tuesday.

Jeffs's attorney, Walter F. Bugden, told the judge he planned to file a habeas corpus objection to extradition and a hearing on the matter was set for Nov. 15.

Jeffs was sentenced in Utah to two five-year-to-life sentences on accomplice to rape charges for marrying a 14-year-old girl to a 19-year-old man.

In July, the Utah Supreme Court ruled the jury received faulty instructions and sent the case back to Washington County for a new trial.