New judge assigned to ex-FLDS leader's bigamy trial

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San Angelo, Texas • A change is being made in the judge presiding over the bigamy trial of a former lieutenant to polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs.

The San Angelo Standard-Times (http://bit.ly/zTD10Q) reports state District Judge Barbara Walther of San Angelo is being replaced by senior state District Judge Robert Moore of Big Spring as presiding judge of Wendell Loy Nielsen's trial.

Judge Dean Rucker made the assignment change as presiding judge of the 7th Administrative Judicial Region. The newspaper reports the document gave no reason for the change, and Walther declined to comment.

Last month, Walther moved the trial from San Angelo to Midland.

The 71-year-old former president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints renounced a plea deal in November. He is accused of marrying three women in 2005.