The American leader of a polygamous sect that includes about 1,000 followers in Bountiful, B.C., was sentenced Tuesday to two consecutive terms of five years to life in prison for being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl.

Warren Jeffs, seen here during his trial in St. George, Utah, in September 2007, was convicted that month of two felony counts of being an accomplice to rape.
(Douglas C. Pizac/Associated Press)

A jury in St. George, Utah, convicted Warren Jeffs in September on two felony charges in connection with his officiating of a wedding in 2001 between the girl and a 19-year-old man.

It will be up to the Utah parole board to decide just how long he stays behind bars.

Prosecutors had said Jeffs forced the girl into marriage and sex against her will. Allen Glade Steed, the girl's now ex-husband, was charged with rape a day after the verdict against Jeffs was reached.

Under Utah law, a 14-year-old can consent to sex in some circumstances. But it is not considered consensual if a person under 18 is enticed by someone at least three years older.

During the trial, the woman, now 21, testified that at her wedding, she cried when pressed by Jeffs to say "I do" and had to be coaxed to kiss her new husband.

She said the first month of marriage, the couple didn't have sex. But then her husband told her it was "time for you to be a wife and do your duty."

Steed, now 26, testified that it was the girl who initiated sex. He also denied that she had cried during their wedding ceremony.

Jeffs attempted suicide in custody: court documents

A self-described prophet, Jeffs, 51, is the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which broke away from the Mormon church when the latter disavowed polygamy more than a century ago.

Nevada police arrested Jeffs in August 2006 after he had been on the run for more than two years and appeared on the FBI's Most Wanted List.

Weeks after the Sept. 25 verdict, the judge unsealed court documents that disclosed a suicide attempt by Jeffs in jail. He apparently attempted to hang himself in January, months before trial. Authorities have declined to discuss the incident, although Jeffs was taken to a hospital for just a few hours.

Jeffs took over the leadership of the sect in 2002.

With files from the Associated Press