Polygamist leader Jeffs gets 2 sentences of 5 years to life

The American leader of a polygamous sect that includes about 1,000 followers in Bountiful, B.C.,was sentenced Tuesday totwo consecutive terms of five years to lifein prison for being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl.

A jury in St. George, Utah, convicted Warren Jeffsin September on two felony chargesin connection with hisofficiating ofa weddingin 2001between the girl and a 19-year-oldman.

It will be up to the Utah parole board to decide just how long he stays behind bars.

Prosecutors had said Jeffs forced the girl into marriage and sex against her will. Allen Glade Steed,thegirl's now ex-husband, was charged with rape a day after theverdict against Jeffswas reached.

Under Utah law, a 14-year-old can consent to sex in some circumstances. But it is not considered consensual if a person under 18 is enticed by someone at least three years older.

During the trial, the woman, now 21, testified that ather wedding, she cried when pressed by Jeffs to say "I do" and had to be coaxed to kiss her new husband.

She said the first month of marriage, the couple didn't have sex.But thenherhusband told heritwas "time for you to be a wife and do your duty."

Steed, now 26,testifiedthatit was the girl whoinitiated sex. He alsodenied that she had cried during their wedding ceremony.

Jeffs attempted suicide in custody: court documents

A self-described prophet, Jeffs, 51,is the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which broke away from the Mormon church when the latter disavowed polygamy more than a century ago.

Nevada police arrested Jeffs in August 2006 after he had been on the run for more than two years andappeared on the FBI's Most Wanted List.

Weeks after the Sept. 25 verdict, the judge unsealed court documents that disclosed a suicide attempt by Jeffs in jail. He apparently attempted to hang himself in January, months before trial. Authorities have declined to discuss the incident, although Jeffs was taken to a hospital for just a few hours.

Jeffs took over the leadership of the sect in 2002.