Despite Warren Jeff’s victory reversing his conviction for aiding and abetting the rape of Elissa Wall for his role in the compelled marriage of the fourteen-year-old girl to her nineteen-year-old first cousin, Allen Steed, he still has plenty of problems. The leader and “prophet” of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints not only faces a possible retrial of the Utah case but he also faces a Federal trial for being a fugitive from justice and a trial in Texas for bigamy, aggravated sexual assault and assault charges over alleged incidents with underage girls at a church ranch. Charges in Arizona, however have been dropped.

In Texas Jeffs is facing a maximum of 99 years in prison. The Arizona prosecutor did not want to waste state resources trying someone who may end up spending the rest of his live in a Texas prison. Likewise the Utah prosecutor may decide not to retry Jeffs if he is convicted in Texas.

Yesterday, Jeffs, in a Utah courtroom, refused to waive extradition, setting up a extradition hearing. Such hearing are generally very simple matters since the only real issue is whether Jeffs is the person wanted in Texas. Generally it involves a fingerprint expert testifying that a set of fingerprints from Texas belong to the same person as a set of fingerprints taken from Jeffs when he was booked in Utah. If Texas does not have a set of his fingerprints it is not difficult to find another means of proving his identity.

Thus the only reason to refuse to waive extradition is to buy time. Considering that he is facing 99 years in Texas this may not be a bad idea. His attorney, Walter Bugden, says that he wants the retrial of the Utah case to occur prior to the extradition to Texas, since extradition to Texas may delay the Utah retrial for several years. But Utah’s Attorney General Mark Shurtleff wants the Texas trial to go first. After all if Jeffs gets 99 years in Texas there is little reason to retry him in Utah.

While an extradition hearing is fairly simple, bureaucratic delay in communications between Utah and Texas may take some time and the next hearing is two months off. Jeff’s attorney may then try to appeal the extradition order and in some states that could take years. But at the same time there are post-decision motions that need to be heard in the Utah Supreme Court and a new trial may take a while. So don’t expect a decision any time soon.