- published: 26 Apr 2015
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An edict is an announcement of a law, often associated with monarchism. The Pope and various micronational leaders are currently the only persons who still issue edicts.
Warren Steed Jeffs (born December 3, 1955) was the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church). In 2011, Jeffs was convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault.
Jeffs gained international notoriety in May 2006 when he was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution on Utah state charges related to his alleged arrangement of illegal marriages between his adult male followers and underage girls. He was arrested in August 2006 in Nevada, and agreed to be taken to Utah for trial. In May and July 2007 the State of Arizona charged him with eight additional counts, including sexual conduct with minors and incest, in two separate cases.
His Utah trial, which began in early September 2007 in St. George, Utah, lasted less than a month, and on September 25 the verdict was read declaring him guilty of two counts of rape as an accomplice. On November 20, 2007 he was sentenced to imprisonment for 10 years to life and began serving his sentence at the Utah State Prison. Jeffs' conviction was reversed by Utah's Supreme Court on July 27, 2010 because of incorrect jury instructions.