Jeffs, 52, will make an initial appearance before Mohave County Superior Court Judge Steven F. Conn. Michael Piccarreta, a Tucson defense attorney representing Jeffs, has asked that Jeffs be allowed to appear in court wearing street clothes rather than a jail jumpsuit.
Piccarreta also plans to ask that the trial be moved out of Mohave County because of ''massive amounts of unfavorable media coverage'' of Jeffs.
Since 2002, Jeffs has led the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, based primarily in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. In Utah, he is serving two consecutive five-to-life terms for accomplice to rape convictions related to a marriage he performed in 2001.
In Arizona, Jeffs now faces charges based on three marriages he conducted between underage girls and older men.
The marriages took place between 1998 and 2003 and involved girls ranging in age from 14 to 17. In Arizona, it is a crime to engage in sexual conduct with anyone under the age of 18.
Mohave County grand juries had originally indicted Jeffs in 2005 and 2007 on charges related to five different marriages he performed between teenagers and older men. In three cases, the county also charged the men to whom the teens were married, but had to drop the cases.
The men named in those cases were Randolph Barlow, Rodney Holm and Terry Darger Barlow. Prosecutors dropped the case against Terry Barlow after he proved his marriage took place in Canada. They dropped the case against Holm after his former plural wife and her brother tried to blackmail another FLDS member in exchange for her refusal to testify against Jeffs.
Mohave County dropped the Randy Barlow case after former plural wife Candi Shapley refused to testify against him.
On Tuesday, Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith said he has dismissed the charges against Jeffs related to the Terry Barlow and Rodney Holm cases. Smith said he is unsure whether Shapley will be willing to testify against Jeffs, which could result in that case being dropped.
Smith said the remaining two cases "may very likely go to trial." One involves Elissa Wall, the star witness in the Utah case against Jeffs. The victim in another case, filed last June, has not been publicly named.
Jeffs is specifically charged with six counts of sexual conduct with a minor, four counts of incest and one conspiracy charge. The sexual conduct and conspiracy charges are class 6 felonies, punishable by six months to 18 months in prison or probation; the incest charge is a class 4 felony, with a possible sentence of 18 months to three years.
brooke@sltrib.com
Warren Jeffs will undergo a medical evaluation in Arizona, which is standard procedure, according to Trish Carter, Mohave County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.
Jeffs had been in the Utah State Prison's infirmary since Feb. 19, after he began fasting for "spiritual strength." Walter Bugden, who represented Jeffs in Utah, said last week that Jeffs is malnourished, dehydrated and that his knees "are bloody with oozing sores" because of extended periods of prayer. Carter said in a statement that Jeffs will be kept in a single cell and will be let out for an hour a day to exercise. He will be allowed visitors.
