polygamist guilty of Marrying a Child

polygamist guilty of Marrying a Child
SAN ANGELO, Texas (UPI) -- A polygamist who entered a "spiritual marriage" with a teenage girl faces a prison term in Texas for sexual assault.
Merril Leroy Jessop, 35, was convicted Wednesday by jurors in Tom Green County who spent just over an hour in deliberations, The San Angelo Standard-Times reported. He is a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, a group of dissenting Mormons who practice polygamy.
The penalty phase was to begin Thursday. Jessop could be sentenced to anything from five years to 99 years.
Eric Nichols, the lead prosecutor, based his closing argument on DNA evidence that Jessop had sex with and impregnated a 15-year-old girl. Even if the girl agreed, Jessop still broke the law, he said.
"The purpose of the celestial or spiritual marriage is to be placed in a position to bear children to achieve her eternal salvation," Nichols said.
Under recent court decisions, polygamous marriages have no legal standing but are not illegal if both parties are legally able to consent.
Dan Hurley, Jessop's lawyer, cited the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," and said Jessop believed what he was doing was necessary for his salvation.

Copyright 2010 by United Press International
This news arrived on: 03/18/2010