MIDLAND (AP) - Jurors resume deliberations in the trial of a former lieutenant to polygamist sect prophet Warren Jeffs accused of illegally taking multiple wives on a remote West Texas ranch raided by authorities.

The Midland County jury deliberated about an hour Tuesday in the trial of Wendell Loy Nielsen before state District Judge Robert Moore sent jurors home for the night. Deliberations resume Wednesday morning.

Nielsen is charged with three bigamy counts. The 71-year-old former president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has been a counselor to Jeffs, the spiritual leader of the polygamist sect. If convicted, Nielsen could get up to 10 years in prison after rejecting a plea deal that would have allowed him to avoid jail time.

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