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The estranged wife of the man running the day-to-day operations of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will be allowed to testify at a federal trial.

Judge H. Russell Holland on Monday approved Charlene Jeffs as a witness in the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights lawsuit against Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., collectively known as Short Creek.

Holland also approved two other witnesses: Sabrina Broadbent Tetzner, who left the sect and was seen on a video earlier this year trying to retrieve her children from a crowd of FLDS faithful in Colorado City, and Mohave County, Ariz., Sheriff's Deputy Taylor Nelson. All three are to be deposed prior to trial.

Lawyers for Hildale and Colorado City had sought to exclude the three, arguing that deadlines had passed to list them as witnesses. The Justice Department contended it only recently discovered the three.

Jeffs is the legal wife of Lyle Jeffs, said to be the bishop of Short Creek. He is the full brother of imprisoned FLDS President Warren Jeffs.

Charlene and Lyle Jeffs have been married for 31 years. She filed for divorce in April. A court docket indicates that case is pending.

A previous court motion says Charlene Jeffs testimony will include descriptions of the Short Creek police force keeping people who don't follow the Jeffs family away from funerals, how her brothers-in-law act as messengers between Lyle and Warren Jeffs, businesses that give money to the church, and which elected officials have briefed her husband on town business.

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