Utah judge rules Jeffs competent to stand trial

Fifth District Judge James Shumate said an evaluation of Warren Jeffs, filed under seal, would be released in the coming weeks after he blacks out portions that detail specific medical information.

Jeffs, president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is charged with two counts of first-degree rape as an accomplice for his role in the 2001 marriage of the underage girl to her 19-year-old cousin. A trial is set for Sept. 10, with jury selection the week before.

His sect, which has about 10,000 members on the Utah-Arizona border, practices polygamy and arranged marriages.

Jeffs’ physical and emotional health has been in question since January when he was taken to a St. George hospital for undisclosed medical treatment. He was arrested in on Interstate 15 near Apex in Southern Nevada in late August.

At a March 27 court hearing, the church leader appeared ill. Pale and skeletal, Jeffs nodded off and drooled on himself. His demeanor that day led to Shumate’s sealed order for a health evaluation. Two psychologists found Jeffs “does not suffer from a mental disorder or a substantial mental illness” and is capable of participating in his defense, the judge said.

“Mr. Jeffs is absolutely healthy, absolutely capable of going forward,” Shumate said.

On Friday, Jeffs seemed remarkably improved. His face was no longer ashen, he appeared to have gained weight, and he engaged in conversation with attorneys.

In a statement, defense attorney Wally Bugden attributed his client’s earlier frailties to being held in solitary confinement in the Washington County jail and to Jeffs’ religious practice of fasting.

Friday’s hearing was triggered by a motion from lawyers for a media coalitionthat has objected to the sealed files.

Separately, defense attorneys had asked the judge to ban media cameras from the courtroom.

The Deseret Morning News on April 5 published a photo taken by one of its photographers in the courtroom on March 27 as part of a media pool.

The newspaper had digitally enhanced the photo of Jeffs holding a piece of paper with writing on it to determine the contents of the note.

The story said the note’s contents were “corroborated by law enforcement sources who spoke to the Deseret Morning News on the condition of anonymity.”

Jeffs had tried to give the note to Shumate during the hearing, but the judge refused it, an action Shumate said Friday made the note a privileged courtroom communication, even though Jeffs told a bailiff after the March hearing that he wanted to have a news conference to share the note with the media.

Shumate condemned the newspaper’s decision to enhance the photo and publish it.

“But the court can’t take poor judgment and bad decision-making and condemn all the other people in the profession,” the judge said.

Cameras are allowed in Utah courtrooms at the judge’s pleasure. Shumate said he would continue to allow cameras at the hearings, but added some new restrictions, including that “images captured will not be enhanced or published in enhanced form.”

Shumate also quashed a subpoena given to a Deseret Morning News reporter by the defense team, which wanted Ben Winslow to name unidentified sources for his stories about the Jeffs case.

Shumate didn’t rule on the merits of the subpoena but said Winslow received it just 24 hours earlier, which was insufficient time before Friday’s hearing.