Jeffs ordered extradited to Texas

SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A Utah judge Monday ordered polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs extradited to Texas to face bigamy and sexual assault charges, court papers show.

Jeffs already faces accomplice to rape charges in Utah and his lawyers tried to fight extradition on grounds it would violate his right to a speedy right to his retrial, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

However, 3rd District Judge Terry Christiansen sided with the prosecution's argument that once a governor has signed extradition orders, courts can only decide whether the papers are in order.

"I don't believe it's proper for this court to substitute its judgment for that of the governor," said Christiansen in making his ruling Monday.

Jeffs was found guilty in 2007 in Utah of forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her 19-year-old cousin. The Utah Supreme Court overturned the conviction this year, citing faulty juror instructions, the newspaper said.

Jeffs is charged in Texas with sexual assault of a child, aggravated sexual assault of a child and bigamy for a spiritual marriage he allegedly entered into in 2006 with a 12-year-old girl at his Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas, and a child he allegedly fathered with another underage girl in 2005.