FLDS TRIALS: Jeffs gets 17 years in assault » Standard-Times
Abram Harker Jeffs smiled at his defense council, and one of his attorneys blew a sigh of relief from his puffed cheeks.
Jeffs had just been told his sentence for sexual assault of a child: 17 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, the lowest first-degree felony sentence yet for a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
“For crimes that occur at the YFZ Ranch, they will be held accountable,” lead Prosecutor Eric Nichols said Wednesday after 51st District Judge Barbara Walther read the jury’s sentence, referring to the FLDS Yearning for Zion Ranch in Schleicher County.