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Any retrial on Utah charges against polygamous sect leader Warren S. Jeffs will likely wait until after he is tried on separate sexual assault and bigamy charges in Texas.
In a status hearing Wednesday, defense attorney Walter Bugden said Jeffs would not waive his right to personally appear in a Utah court.
"Mr. Jeffs was extradited to Texas against his will, over his repeated objections, and based upon the state's refusal to protect Mr. Jeffs' constitutional right to a speedy trial in this proceeding," Bugden wrote in a motion filed in 5th District Court.
Jeffs was convicted in 2007 on accomplice to rape charges after he allegedly presided over a spiritual marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin. But the Utah Supreme Court overturned that conviction last year, citing improper jury instructions.
The cousin, Allen Steed, now 29, pleaded guilty in February to solemnization of a prohibited marriage and pleaded no contest to unlawful sexual activity with a minor, both third-degree felonies. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years of probation.
Jeffs, 55, was extradited to Texas late last year to face three felony charges connected to two of his own spiritual marriages to allegedly underage girls. He is now jailed in that state and has two trials scheduled, one for late July and the other for October.
During Wednesday's Utah status hearing, prosecutor Brock Belnap agreed not to proceed until Jeffs can appear in person. Another status hearing in the case was set for Nov. 9.