Seven women and five men have been selected to hear the charges of rape as an accomplice against Jeffs. Four are serving as alternates, but they will not be identified until deliberations begin.

The group includes four young women and one young man; two middle-aged women and three middle-aged men; and two older men.

They include business owners, young mothers, a teacher and a city employee, engineers, and people who work in finance and retail.

The afternoon court session now underway was expected to begin with instructions to the jury, then testimony from the trial's first witness.

After three days of interviews to find 28 qualified candidates, the final selection by attorneys this morning took about an hour. Prosecutors and defense attorneys each were able to strike five candidates, and passed papers back and forth in silence as they did so.

Jeffs then flipped through jury questionnaires, comparing them to names on the list.

Meanwhile, 5th District Judge James L. Shumate spoke to the jurors, warning them not to talk with anyone about the case. He expressed confidence in the justice system.

"In all my years of practice," he said, "I never saw a jury make a mistake once."

He also said he had learned "wonderful things about the people of Washington County" during the three days of individual interviews. Residents now reflect a "remarkable diversity" and come from all over the world, he said.

"It didn't used to be like that," Shumate observed. "This area has grown enormously, but much to its benefit."

Jeffs was brought by helicopter to the courthouse this morning from Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane.

Jeffs is charged with two counts of rape as an accomplice, stemming from a spiritual marriage he conducted in 2001 between Doe, then 14, and her cousin, then 19.

Doe testified in an earlier hearing that she objected numerous times to the union and to having marital relations with her husband. Jeffs, according to Doe, said her heavenly salvation depended on her doing as told.