Leader of Polygamist Sect Guilty in Rape Case
By JOHN DOUGHERTY and KIRK JOHNSON

ST. GEORGE, Utah, Sept. 24 — The polygamist Warren S. Jeffs, hailed by his followers as a prophet of God but denounced by critics as the tyrannical cult leader, was convicted today of being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl in his church.

Mr. Jeffs, 51, faces up to life in prison.

The eight-member jury had announced on Monday that it was deadlocked on one of the two charges against Mr. Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an offshoot Mormon sect with an estimated 10,000 members. But earlier today, for reasons the court did not explain, an alternate juror was substituted for one of the original panel members. The unanimous verdict came a few hours later, after about 17 hours of deliberation.

The girl who was at the center of the case, now 21 and identified as Jane Doe by the court, testified that in 2001 she had been pressed by Mr. Jeffs into a marriage with a 19-year-old cousin she didn’t want. Prosecutors said Mr. Jeffs had known that the marriage would lead to nonconsensual sex but pushed the union anyway.

When the verdict was read, just after 2:15 p.m. here, Mr. Jeffs showed no emotion, and his followers, who had filled the back rows of the courtroom, remained silent.

In the deeply isolated rural polygamy communities of Hildale, Utah, and nearby Colorado City, Ariz., residents said the verdict would probably just harden the lines of resistance and resolve.

“That just makes him all the more the prophet,â€