Polygamist Religious Leader Fires His Lawyers

MICHELE NORRIS, host: To San Angelo, Texas, now, where it's been a dramatic day in the trial of Warren Jeffs, the leader of the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He's accused of sexually assaulting two girls; one was just 12 years old at the time. Today, as opening arguments were scheduled to begin, Jeffs abruptly fired his defense team. He told the judge he wants to represent himself.

NPR's Wade Goodwyn is with us from San Angelo. And Wade, tell us more about what happened today. It sounds like Jeffs' decisions took the entire court by surprise.

WADE GOODWYN: It's been amazing. We expected to start by hearing a defense motion to suppress evidence that was seized in the initial arrest of Warren Jeffs. That was outside of Las Vegas. But for the first 30 minutes, there wasn't any court at all. And then when Judge Barbara Walther finally walked in, she had a strange look on her face. And then the defense attorney, Deric Walpole, stood up and told the judge he'd been fired by Warren Jeffs. And in fact, all the defense attorneys had been fired because Jeffs was determined to represent himself.

NORRIS: And how did Judge Barbara Walther respond?

GOODWYN: She did everything she could to dissuade Jeffs. She said that he'd assembled some of the best defense talent in Texas. She warned him that the case was complicated and the charges, very serious. She told Jeffs that in all her years as a lawyer and as a judge, she'd never seen a defendant successfully defend himself. And finally - that he wasn't going to be given a continuance just because he wanted to represent himself - that the jury was going to be sworn in, and the trial started today.

You could tell the judge believed that that was the real reason he fired his lawyers, but nothing could persuade Jeffs to change his mind.

NORRIS: So he didn't change his mind. Did he say a bit more about why he wanted to do this, why he wanted to represent himself?

GOODWYN: Yes, he said that - because none of the attorneys could understand the true, pure nature of his defense strategy. He kept using the words pure and true, over and over. The judge told him that the lawyers were bound by certain laws in what they were going to be able to argue, and that he was going to be bound by those laws, too.

And the consequences were immediate. The defense motion to suppress that Las Vegas evidence was heard first thing, and there's some potentially damaging evidence there. There are rumors of an audiotape of Jeffs having sex with a 12-year-old child bride on their so-called wedding night. And when Judge Walther asked Jeffs if he was ready to present evidence and call witnesses, Jeffs said he wanted more time.

BThe judge said no; Jeffs objected. The judge overruled his objection. They went round and round but in the end, the judge allowed all that evidence to come in. So that - although Jeffs got what he wanted - he's his own lawyer now - I think it's been a very bad day in court for him. And that's before the jury's even been sworn in.

NORRIS: And the difference between the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...

GOODWYN: The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has never renounced bigamy. And they believe they are, in fact, the true church - the true Mormon Church. But all of the members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have been excommunicated by the Mormon Church.

NORRIS: That's NPR's Wade Goodwyn, speaking with us about the trial of Warren Jeffs in San Angelo, Texas. Wade, thank you very much.

GOODWYN: It's my pleasure.

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