I found myself thinking about Cheri Beth Taylor the other day as I sat in a Utah courtroom watching Warren Jeffs nod and smile at about a dozen of his faithful followers. Whenever the polygamous leader is in St. George's courthouse these days, the back two rows of Judge James Shumate's courtroom are always filled-up with Jeff's peeps--men in dark suits and women in long dresses.
It is really a fascinating moment--each day before the bailiff calls the court into session these men and women stand lovingly--nodding and smiling right back at their prophet.

15-year-old Cheri Beth Taylor told me she didn't want to be placed into an arranged polygamous marriage. But she also told me that her father--a man with three wives--had made it very clear that he wanted her to become a young plural bride instead of a "whore on the streets."
Nearly a decade ago--Cheri Beth Taylor ran from Colorado City--ran from her family and from her faith. She made her way to Phoenix and into the care of an extraordinary woman named Flora Jessop.

During Warren Jeffs" innumerable pretrial hearings--while sitting just feet away for the polygamous prophet--I have frequently found myself rerunning the events, the faces and the stories of the last decade. Faces like that of a brave--yet timid and terrified girl named Cheri Beth Taylor--a pregnant 19-year-old named Ruth Stubbs--a young woman fleeing with two children and a third on the way. Ruth was running from her polygamous cop husband--a guy 16 years older than her who already had two wives and nearly 20 children when he took Ruth as his third bride......more to come....mw