Stolen Innocence - Lisa Pulitzer [184]
“Yes.”
“Did you take those books and teachings with you when you left?”
“Yes.”
“Since you left, who has played those tapes for you?”
“After I didn’t listen to them,” I responded.
The defense then took me on a complicated tangent, accusing me of wrongdoing by having my personal attorneys join me during the preceding meetings with the state. I made it clear that my lawyers Roger and Greg Hoole were in the court today, and had been by my side, supporting and protecting my rights throughout my entire legal journey.
After an examination of the many love notes that Allen had written me during the marriage, I was asked to stand down. I could feel the fury rising inside me as she tried to create a smokescreen by having me read these letters. I wanted to scream out that no letter from Allen, no matter how seemingly romantic or thoughtful, could undo the act of rape. I realized at that moment that the facts of this case were glaring: I was fourteen, forced into a marriage, and forced to have sex against my will. And they were using any shred of evidence they could to cover that up and muddy the water.
CHAPTER THIRTY
THE END IS IN SIGHT
Uncle Warren has done nothing wrong.
—ALLEN STEED
With my testimony completed, the State of Utah called my sister Teressa Wall Blackmore. She looked lovely with her soft blond hair cut in a stylish chin-length bob. It was immediately clear to the jury from her appearance that, like me, she was no longer confined by the rigid restrictions of the lifestyle we were born into.
“How are you familiar with the FLDS?” the state began its questioning.
“I was a part of it,” my sister replied matter-of-factly. Just like at the preliminary hearing, her answers remained short and succinct.
“When did you leave?”
“A year and a half ago.”
“Do you know Warren Jeffs?”
Teressa’s eyes narrowed slightly as she replied that she indeed knew him, as a principal at Alta Academy, a counselor, a speaker in church meetings, and eventually as our prophet. She went on to explain that one of the central concepts of the FLDS faith was obedience. “We were raised our whole lives to be obedient no matter what. We were to ‘keep sweet’ and not ask any questions.”
After describing her stint at Alta Academy from first through tenth grade, she explained how she, like so many other FLDS girls, including myself, had to leave school to get married. She described Warren Jeffs’s role at Alta Academy not only as principal but as a teacher, especially to the high school students. “Warren taught all of the children in devotional and priesthood history,” she went on. “He taught us to keep sweet.”
“How did you take that teaching?”
“It was frustrating because inside I had questions and I couldn’t ask. Deep down I didn’t have this testimony, but I had to pretend I did.”
Because she had already been sent to Canada, Teressa had not been present for the latter half of my childhood or our drastic and sudden move to Fred Jessop’s. However, she did share her own distressing tale with the jury, explaining how she had been shipped off to Canada and pressured to marry at a young age.
Moving forward to the spring of 2001, Teressa described the initial tearful phone call she received from me while in Canada.
“Did you become aware of Elissa Wall’s impending marriage?”
“She called me crying. I was very upset. But I was in Canada and there was nothing I could do. Even if I had been there, though, I couldn’t have done anything.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her she didn’t have to do it.”
“So she had options?” the prosecutor asked.
“To me, her option was to leave.”
“Did you have any specific ideas of how she could leave?”
“Not really.”
The state moved to my wedding, and Teressa recalled the countless phone calls between us during those tumultuous weeks. Even then I knew that she could do nothing to stop what was happening to me, but her comfort over the phone had been a true lifeline to me in those early days of my fated marriage. “I talked to her the day after her wedding,