SAN ANGELO, TEXAS-Warren Jeffs stood silently as Texas judge Barbara Walther read the the jury's sentencing decision before the court, their decision took less than a half an hour.

Convicted of two counts of sexual assault last Thursday, Jeffs received life in prison for the sexual assault of a 12 year-old, and 20 years for the sexual assault of a 15 year-old. The sentences are to run consecutively. He will not be eligible for parole for 35 years.

For much of the sentencing phase which began after his conviction on Thursday, Jeffs refused to take part and spent the court hours in an adjacent room as an abundance of tapes were played for the sentencing jury. The audio tapes were seized from his Texas ranch along with thousands of pages of notes that the Polygamist leader kept. The most damaging tape was of him having intercourse with a 12 year-old.

Other tapes played were of Jeffs instructing his young wives on how to please him sexually, because by pleasing him, they were pleasing God, and that they would be rejected by God if they refused his sexual advances.

During his sentencing hearing, prosecutors used many of the notes that Jeffs had at the ranch. One note from Jeffs was instructions for building a bed in the upstairs temple room of his ranch. Specific instructions were laid out for the construction. Also included in that note was a passage pertaining to the bed, saying, “while the lord does his work with me.” This note was shown to the jury after the testimony of his nephew, Brent Jeffs. Brent had testified that the elder Jeffs, his uncle, had sodomized him at age five. Warren had told the younger Jeffs during the assault, that, “This is God’s work.” Warren was never charged with this assault, but Brent filed a civil suit against him and received land in the settlement.

Assistant Texas Attorney General Eric Nichols said Jeffs, considered the spiritual leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, had abused his position “to victimize children, to break up families and to satisfy his own personal appetites and desires”. Nichols went on to say, “Mr. Jeffs had his big house, where he chose to warehouse hundreds of girls and women for his sexual gratification. The state of Texas has a big house too, and that is where Warren Jeffs should spend the rest of his days.”

Jeffs had 78 wives, 12 of whom were 16, and another 12 that were 15 or younger. Jeffs had also taken all of his fathers wives except for two, one of which was his mother as his after his fathers death.