A judge in Utah ordered polygamist Warren Jeffs to pay a former child bride $16 million after he forced her to marry her 19-year-old cousin when she was 14 years old.
Third District Judge Keith Kelly awarded Elissa Wall $12million in punitive damages and $4million in damages in the lawsuit she filed in 2005 against Jeffs, the former Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) president.
‘The judgment handed down by the Court is a big step forward in the fight for a strong and unmovable statement to the world that no one, especially children, can be sexual[ly] exploited and abused in the name of religion,’ Wall said in a news release said, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
‘Today is a victory for many thousands of victims of abuse. Many of us have stood up in our own way to fight for justice and further the protection of children.’
When the events occurred, Wall filed the case under the pseudonym ‘MJ’. Her attorney Alan Mortensen said on Tuesday that the ruling now allows for her to collect the money from either Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence in prison, or the church.
Third District Judge Keith Kelly awarded Elissa Wall (left) $12million in punitive damages and $4million in damages in the lawsuit she filed in 2005 against Warren Jeffs (right), the former Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) president
The lawsuit stems from the fact that Jeffs forced Wall to marry her 19-year-old cousin Allen Steed when she was just 14 years old (above together shortly after the wedding)
In the ruling, the judge noted that Jeffs controlled FLDS and key aspects of Wall’s life when he arranged for her to marry Steed over her objections. Wall (center) said Steed was a violent man who raped her often
Mortensen added that they may pursue FLDS assets in several states along with Mexico and Canada.
‘It’s so the church feels the pain of what their doctrine has been as to the rape of young girls,’ Mortensen told the Salt Lake Tribune.
Neither Jeffs nor the church defended himself or itself in the lawsuit.
In the ruling, the judge noted that Jeffs controlled FLDS and key aspects of Wall’s life when he arranged for her to marry Allen Steed, then 19, over her objections.
Jeffs performed the marriage ceremony between the two and pressured Wall to have children with Steed.
As a result, Wall suffered several miscarriages and a stillbirth; she also said Steed was a violent man who raped her often.
Steed pleaded guilty to solemnization of a prohibited marriage and pleaded no contest to unlawful sexual activity with a minor.
Jeffs has been behind bars since 2006 after he was sentenced to life plus 20 years in a Texas prison when he was convicted of several sexual abuse charges with two girls he married as plural wives. Above are dozens of Jeffs’s brides
He received 30 days in jail and three years of probation.
Jeffs has been behind bars since 2006 after he was sentenced to life plus 20 years in a Texas prison when he was convicted of several sexual abuse charges with two girls he married as plural wives.
Wall testified during Jeffs’ trial in St. George that she has trust issues and other problematic effects from the relationship.
During this trial he was charged with rape as an accomplice, and was convicted by a jury. But the Utah Supreme Court overturned the conviction.
In 2016, Wall was awarded $2.75million in cash and property from the United Effort Plan, which is the trust that holds much of the property in Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona for the traditional home of the FLDS.
Warren (above in an arrest photo from 2006) was the former President of the FLDS
Wall sued the trust now controlled by the state to hold leaders accountable for abuses such as underage marriage, her lawyer said.
The new governing board of the trust said in a statement they appreciated that she spoke out publicly against Jeffs.
Under that agreement, Wall received $1.5 million in cash, said property trust lawyer Jeffrey Shields.
She also received a house in Hildale and a 40-acre piece of property in Colorado City with a total value of $1.25 million.
‘She’s done enough for this community, I think she’s entitled to a residence,’ Shields said.
The trust holds nearly all the land, homes and businesses in the home base of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints along the Utah-Arizona border.
Estimated to be worth about $110 million, it was built to fulfill a belief in holding property communally.