Warren Jeffs Trial: FLDS Leader Defends Polygamy, Threatens Death on Court

Warren Jeffs - the controversial leader of a fundamentalist Mormon church who is accused of sexual assault - on Friday defended polygamy on religious grounds, said God had threatened death on court officials, and said a 2008 raid of his compound violated "sacred rights."

Jeffs on Friday broke the near total silence he displayed just a day earlier in a Texas courtroom during a trial already one week old.

He objected as an FBI agent began testifying on evidence discovered at his compound in Eldorado, Texas in a 2008 raid.

"You are now touching that which is sacred," he said referring to a document from the church, calling on the court to "render justice before sacred trust is trampled upon."

A day earlier, Jeffs, 55, fired his legal team, electing to represent himself.

Jeffs faces a virtual life sentence if convicted on two counts of child sexual assault. A 2007 case where he was initially convicted of two counts of rape was later overturned because of incorrect jury instructions.

Some comments made outside the jury's presence included what he said had been a message received from God.

"I, the Lord God of heaven, call upon the court to cease this prosecution against my pure, holy way," Jeffs said.

"I shall send a scourge upon the counties of prosecutorial zeal to be humbled by sickness and death," he also added.

The judge in the case warned Jeffs would be removed if he threatened any of the jurors in the case.

Jeffs also said the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints was following God's law when it comes to marriage.

"If we do not live these laws we are damned here and hereafter," he said. "We believe in marriage system of eternity called celestial marriage, wherein celestial means heavenly authorized, not to be intervened by government intervention."

A former member of the FLDS chuch said on Friday she wasn't surprised by an outburst on by Warren Jeffs, the church's leader who is on trial for sexual assault.

"I couldn't expect anything less from such an irrational, honestly, partially crazy leader as I knew him," Elisa Wall told CBS' The Early Show.