SALT LAKE CITY — After having charges dropped in Arizona and seeing a rape conviction overturned in Utah, Warren Jeffs appears to be headed next to Texas.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Tuesday signed an extradition warrant to send the leader of the Fundamentalist LDS Church to Texas, where he faces charges of bigamy and sexual assault.
The warrant gives Utah the option to bring Jeffs back to the state at the conclusion of the proceedings.
"The plan is this: he will go to Texas to be tried and, depending on whatever happens there, we'll make a decision up here on whether to retry him," said Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. "I believe there are a number of victims of Warren Jeffs and he's going to face justice now in Texas."
Walter Bugden, Jeffs' defense attorney in Utah, said he would oppose extradition.
"We believe Mr. Jeffs should be entitled to have resolution to the charges in Utah before he's shuttled off to Texas," Bugden said. "He ought to be able to have that matter decided once and for all and have finality. It's a fairness argument. It's a speedy trial argument. We understand Texas wants to prosecute him, but Texas ought to wait its turn."
Shurtleff said it was "very unlikely" Jeffs would succeed in fighting extradition.
Late last month, the Utah Supreme Court reversed Jeffs' 2007 conviction of rape as an accomplice for his role in the "spiritual" wedding of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin. In ordering a new trial, the court cited an erroneous jury instruction that focused too heavily on Jeffs' relationship with the girl.
On Tuesday, the Utah Attorney General's Office was granted a two-week extension to file a petition for a rehearing before the high court. Shurtleff said he is still going forward with those efforts "so that everything is in place if, in fact, we decide to retry him."
In Texas, Shurtleff said, Jeffs could face a stiffer legal battle.
"They have personal evidence on him," he said. "They're not having to do the accomplice route."
Jeffs is currently being held in the Utah State Prison's Olympus facility, the prison's mental health unit, said Department of Corrections spokesman Steve Gehrke.
Jeffs was moved to the Utah prison in June after Arizona prosecutors dropped four charges of sexual misconduct against him after the state's witnesses said they no longer wished to testify in the case.
The timing for Jeffs' removal from the Draper site was unknown.
e-mail: afalk@desnews.com