ST. GEORGE, Utah — The jury in the trial of polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs reached a verdict Tuesday, just three hours after a juror was replaced and deliberations began anew.

The announcement that a verdict had been reached capped two days of surprising turns of events in Jeffs' trial on two counts of rape as an accomplice.

The jury announced it was deadlocked Monday afternoon, but just hours after Fifth District Judge James Shuter told the panel to go back to work, jurors said they believed they were close to a verdict. They said, however, that they wanted to sleep on it before announcing their decision.

Then, Tuesday morning, Shuter announced that a juror was being dismissed. He instructed the jury to begin deliberations again after replacing the woman with a female alternate.

Jeffs faces five years to life in prison on two counts of rape as an accomplice for allegedly "enticing" a 14-year-old girl to marry her 19-year-old cousin and have sex with him against her wishes.

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The jury can convict Jeffs if it finds he "intentionally, knowingly or willingly" encouraged the teen to submit to an act she would not have normally participated in.

Jeffs, the leader and "prophet" of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), faces five years to life in prison on each count stemming from the arranged marriage between Elissa Wall and her first cousin, Allen Steed.

Before sending the panel to deliberate, Shuter told the jurors to disregard comments and positions taken by the dismissed female juror, who was excused for undisclosed reasons.

"You are not partisans or advocates, but rather judges in this position," Shuter told the panel as the jury foreman, a retired engineer, nodded. "Please keep an open mind."

The original panel of five men and three women had deliberated for 13 hours over two days.

Earlier Monday, the jury sent a note to the court indicating that they were deadlocked on the second count against Jeffs, who is accused of using his influence as the leader of the FLDS to "entice" the teen into marrying and having sex with Steed against her will.

Jurors in the week-long trial heard conflicting stories from Wall and Steed about who initiated their first sexual encounter less than three weeks after Jeffs married them in a ceremony in a Nevada hotel.

The first count refers to the three weeks following the wedding on April 23, 2001, when prosecutors believe the first sexual encounter occurred.

According to prosecutors, the ceremony, including Jeffs' directive that the couple "go forth and multiply and replenish the earth," was a psychological trigger that made Wall feel compelled to submit to the marriage and nonconsensual sex.

Wall, now 21, testified that Steed raped her while she sobbed in protest. But Steed insisted that force was not condoned by his religion and that he never forced himself on his wife.

The second count refers to the period after Wall, identified in court papers as Jane Doe IV, allegedly told Jeffs that her husband was "touching" her in ways that made her uncomfortable and that she did not "understand."

Jeffs' response, according to Wall, was that she should "repent" and give herself "mind, body and soul" to her husband.

Lawyers for Jeffs argued to the jury last week that he did not command the teen to submit to nonconsensual sex. Instead, they claim, he offered her counseling consistent with the patriarchal norms of the FLDS, which broke from mainstream Mormonism in the 1890s over the issue of polygamy.