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Thursday was supposed to be the deadline for Lyle and Nephi Jeffs to provide a federal judge with doctrines from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that say, among other things, that they cannot speak to outsiders about the church.

But don't look for those doctrines anytime soon. Documents filed with the judge late Wednesday say the Jeffs have terminated their attorney, Jim Bradshaw.

"The Jeffs have concluded that a change in counsel is necessary to insure the full protection of their interests relative to the important and crucial matters of constitutional magnitude that have been raised before this Court," Bradshaw wrote in a motion asking to withdraw from the case. No further explanation was offered.

The motion makes reference to a telephone conference held with U.S. District Judge David Sam and attorneys on Monday.

The Jeffs have been drawn into a U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit against Paragon Contractors over a December 2012 harvest at the Southern Utah Pecan Ranch near Hurricane. The Labor Department has evidence alleging FLDS church leaders ordered women and children to close school and help harvest the nuts and is investigating whether any of them were paid for their services.

Paragon was contracted to provide the labor. Paragon and the ranch are both owned by members of the FLDS.

The Jeffs have contended their religion forbids them from discussing the church with outsiders. Sam has ordered them to provide the doctrines stating such and to answer certain questions in a deposition about some of the structure of the church and its business dealings. Sam has said Lyle and Nephi Jeffs have Fifth Amendment rights to not answer questions about their roles in the harvest.

It's not clear how long the change in lawyers will delay the case. The Jeffs have 21 days to hire new attorneys.

The Jeffs family has a bit of a history hiring and firing attorneys. When he was on trial in 2011 in Texas, FLDS leader Warren Jeffs — who is Lyle and Nephi's brother — hired some of the best criminal defense lawyers in that state then fired them, just as the trial was starting. Warren Jeffs represented himself for most of the trial.

A jury convicted him of aggravated sexual assault of a 12 year-old girl and for sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl, both of whom he took as wives. Warren Jeffs is serving a life sentence on the former count and 20 years in prison on the latter.

Twitter: @natecarlisle