This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Texas attorney general has dismissed a bigamy charge against polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs, according to a special prosecutor on the case.
"All of the heretofore unadjudicated bigamy cases have been dismissed," attorney Eric Nichols said Wednesday.
Prosecutors have already moved to delay the case, saying it made sense to avoid the time and expense of a second trial when Jeffs is already spending life in prison.
Since the motion to delay, Jeffs has also exhausted his appeal options. He will be 100 before he is eligible for parole.
Jeffs, 56, was sentenced to life plus 20 years in a Texas prison for sexually assaulting two girls, ages 12 and 15, who he took as polygamous wives at the Yearning for Zion Ranch near remote Eldorado, Texas.
The August 2011 conviction came after a massive 2008 raid on the ranch, an outpost built by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which is based along the Utah-Arizona border.
Twitter: @lwhitehurst