KINGMAN, Ariz. — Hours after the announcement of Warren Jeffs' capture, a young woman who has said the fundamentalist Mormon leader forced her into a polygamous marriage when she was a teenager stunned a courtroom here Tuesday morning by refusing to testify about the union.  

Candi Shapley, a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, would not explain her decision not to answer questions at the statutory rape trial of a Jeffs associate, but authorities suggested the timing of the church leader's arrest and the influence of her parents, who remain members of the FDLS, were to blame.

"I believe she is being put under a lot of pressure by Warren Jeffs' supporters, including those within her own family, not to testify," said Mohave County attorney Matt Smith.

The trial judge found Shapley, 20, in contempt of court and ordered her held in a shelter for domestic violence victims until she was prepared to answer questions about Randolph Barlow, the man she has said took her as a second wife when she was 16 and he 28. Superior Court Judge Steven Conn capped her confinement at 30 days.

Sect leader Warren Jeffs was arrested near Las Vegas Monday.

The judge's order came after an extraordinary court proceeding in which Shapley, whose cooperation with authorities has waned in recent weeks, transformed from the prosecution's greatest asset to potentially its worst liability. Last Friday, Smith dropped sexual assault charges against Barlow after Shapley insisted she did not want Barlow to go to prison. Her lawyer assured the prosecutor that, if Barlow was tried only on the lesser count of sexual contact with a minor, she would offer testimony in line with that she gave a grand jury last summer. (TRANSCRIPT)

Story continues

The first witness called by prosecutors in the bench trial, Shapley appeared confident as she took the stand dressed in black pants, black stiletto heels and a fitted vest. Her mother, Esther, in a long chocolate-brown prairie dress typical of FLDS women, was seated next to Barlow's mother behind the defense table.

For four minutes, Shapley answered the prosecutor's questions about her age, her twin daughters and her education. During that time, her mother abruptly rose from her seat behind the defense table and crossed the courtroom to sit in the gallery directly facing the witness stand. Smith then began asking questions about March 2002, the month Shapley married Barlow, and the witness suddenly refused to answer.

Tucking her long, red curls behind her ears and staring at the prosecutor, she said, "I have nothing else to say."

Smith appeared confused and continued with the questioning, asking, "Do you remember your father talking to you about the fact you were going to be getting married the next day?"

"I have nothing else to say," Shapley replied, glaring at him.

When the prosecutor asked her to clarify her position, she said, "I am not willing to answer any more questions."

Her mouth quivered as she gave variations of that answer to Smith and, later, the judge.

Barlow, a balding 33-year-old who wore a gray shirt and jeans, stared impassively toward the witness stand. Shapley has alleged he raped her twice during their marriage after she refused to have sex with him.

Girls play basketball in the remote desert town of Hildale, Ariz., a hub of the polygamous sect led by Warren Jeffs.

During a recess, Smith asked Shapley through her lawyer, Mik Jordahl, if she would agree to testify under several conditions, including that prosecutors drop charges against Jeffs related to her and promise not to prosecute her parents.

Shapley waved off the offers and huddled with her mother outside the courthouse.

While acknowledging he was surprised by his client's actions, Shapley's lawyer insisted she was not influenced by her mother or the FLDS, but rather did not want to cooperate with law enforcement, which "she feels victimized her as much as Randy Barlow."

She has said she did not know authorities would charge Barlow and was only providing background information for their investigation of teen marriage at the FLDS compound along the Utah border. She has also accused them of forcing her to testify before the grand jury while her daughter was undergoing brain surgery.

"She's not afraid of Warren Jeffs. She just doesn't like the way she's been treated," Jordahl said.

Shapley's refusal to testify was a blow to the prosecution of both Barlow and Jeffs. Without her testimony, there is little evidence against Barlow, and two of the four counts of statutory rape and conspiracy that Jeffs faces in Arizona are based on her grand jury account.

A lawyer for Barlow, Bruce Griffen, objected to the delay in the trial and said he would ask for a dismissal of the charges at the next hearing in the case, now scheduled for Sept. 26.

Shapley was for a time an outspoken witness for the prosecution, even appearing on "Good Morning, America" to describe her case.

Barlow is the second of eight FLDS men prosecuted this year in an attempt by Arizona authorities to rein in polygamous marriage to minors in the border community of Hildale.

Barlow's case was unique among the eight cases because it included sexual assault charges in addition to the statutory rape count. The alleged victims in the other cases, all of whom are still married to the defendants, refused to cooperate with investigators and those cases are based largely on the dates on birth certificates for children of the plural marriages.

The first polygamist tried, Kelly Fischer, was convicted of statutory rape and sentenced to 45 days in jail. His victim, his third wife, wrote a letter to the judge requesting leniency.