SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – The polygamous sect leader caught recently after he was on the run for a year was in a pair of accidents in the late 1990s that must be investigated to determine whether the head injuries he suffered caused brain damage, his lawyer said Wednesday.
A decision on whether Lyle Jeffs will argue that he is unfit to stand trial on food stamp fraud, money laundering and failing to appear in court won’t be made until after experts assess the old medical reports and evaluate his mental health, the lawyer, Kathryn Nester, said in an email to The Associated Press.
She first revealed the accidents in a request Tuesday asking a federal judge for a four-month delay for Jeffs’ Sept. 18 trial so she can obtain the records and determine whether he may have mental or physical problems stemming from the accidents that happened long before Jeffs ran into legal troubles centering on his leadership of the Mormon offshoot sect headquartered in a small community of Utah-Arizona border.
The first accident happened 1997 when Jeffs fell three stories at a construction site, hit his head on concrete and rocks and was left unconscious, Nester said in a court filing. Doctors said he suffered traumatic brain injuries and could experience a personality change, the documents said.
A year later, Jeffs was in a car accident in the Salt Lake City area that left him unconscious with cuts on his forehead and required treatment for traumatic brain injuries, Nester said documents.