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PerryPeabody
 Posted:
Tue Sep 29, 2009 2:51 pm |
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With God On Their Side
The decision to abruptly remove 437 children from a fundamentalist Mormon compound in Eldorado sparked the largest custody battle in U.S. history. But now that the last child’s case has been settled and all the kids are back home, a question still lingers: What really happened on the Yearning for Zion Ranch?
by Katy Vine
Texas Monthly
is a good article on the debacle at the YFZ ranch and why things happened the way they did.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/2009-10-01/feature2-1.php
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Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 1600
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| PerryPeabody
Posted:
Fri Oct 02, 2009 7:48 pm |
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Texas judge OKs evidence collected in raid on sect
Court » Ruling allows use in upcoming trials of thousands of documents seized during a raid last year near Eldorado.
By Michelle Roberts
in Salt Lake Tribune
The Associated Press
Updated: 10/02/2009 05:25:10 PM MDT
SAN ANGELO, Texas » A Texas judge ruled Friday that prosecutors could use thousands of documents seized during a weeklong raid of a polygamous sect's West Texas ranch in upcoming criminal trials even though search warrants were prompted by faked reports of abuse.
Attorneys for sect men charged after the April 2008 raid had sought to have the documents -- including family photos, records of multiple marriages and journal entries by jailed sect leader Warren Jeffs -- kept out of their trials because they were obtained using search warrants that relied on false reports to a domestic abuse hotline.
The defendants argued law enforcement officials were looking for an excuse to raid the Yearning For Zion Ranch and did little to check the reports before rummaging through the ranch's homes and other buildings. Prosecutors disputed that claim, saying law enforcement officials believed the reports were real at the time of the search.
Texas District Judge Barbara Walther heard four days of testimony on the issue in May but didn't issue a ruling until Friday.
A dozen men with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have been indicted on charges including sexual assault of a child, bigamy and presiding over an unlawful ceremony. The first trial starts Oct. 26 in Eldorado, the small community where the ranch sits about 40 miles south of here.
FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop said he was disappointed but not surprised by the ruling. The defendants will use the argument for the basis of an appeal if convicted, he said.
"I have no doubt this thing will be ruled illegal in the long run," he said of the search.
The documents are not the only evidence in the case, but could be a substantial part of the Texas attorney general's prosecutions. Jeffs' narratives seized from the ranch detail many of his instructions to sect members and daily activities at the ranch, including an allegation against the first sect man to face trial, Raymond Jessop.
The 38-year-old pleaded not guilty to sexual assault of a child during a pre-trial hearing on Friday.
Prosecutors accuse him of sexually assaulting a teen who was allegedly one of nine wives. In 2004, the then-16-year-old girl was in child labor for three days but was not taken to the hospital because of fears about possible criminal prosecution, according to Jeffs' writings.
Raymond Jessop also has been indicted on a bigamy charge, but prosecutors decided to pursue that charge separately.
Jeffs, previously convicted in Utah as an accomplice to rape, faces charges in Texas of sexual assault of a child and bigamy but will first be tried in Arizona on charges related to arrangin
http://www.sltrib.com/polygamy/ci_13472982
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Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 1600
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| gwen
Posted:
Sat Oct 24, 2009 11:47 pm |
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Texas Polygamist Women Called "Pimps"
Former Sect Member Assails Them Ahead of First Trial of Fundamentalist Group's Men on Child Sex Abuse Counts
CBS) Jury selection is slated to begin Monday in the trial of the first of 12 male members of a Texas polygamist sect whose ranch state officials raided last year.
Raymond Jessop, of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was indicted after the April 2008 raid and pleaded not guilty to allegations including sexual assault, bigamy, and being married to underage girls.
The other eleven defendants are scheduled to be tried separately later this year.
The raid on the sprawling, 1,700-acre Yearning For Zion ranch made public the private practices of the polygamous religious order near Eldorado, observes CBS News Correspondent Don Teague.
Members of the fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints share a belief in multiple wives, being self-sufficient and dressing modestly. But an anonymous phone call alleged the church also sanctioned underage marriage and child abuse.
Four-hundred-thirty-seven children were removed as a result of the raid, as authorities investigated the allegations. Eventually, the initial phone call was determined to be a hoax and all but five of the children were returned to their families.
Former polygamist Flora Jessop, who escaped the compound 15 years ago, worked with some of the children after they were taken from the ranch. She now lives in Phoenix with her husband and two kids. Raymond Jessop's father is her cousin, so Raymond is her second cousin.
Flora works to get other girls out, including her sister. She's also writing a book about the sect.
"Everyone (in the sect) views (Raymond) as a hero and martyr," she tells CBS News. "Being on trial has not and will not hurt his image at all. All 12 of these guys are viewed that way."
She told "The Early Show Saturday Edition" co-anchor Chris Wragge "it really doesn't" surprise her that the men are being put on trial, "because of the nature of the abuses that we've been talking about for years. And I'm just happy to see that they are going to trial. What I'm upset the most about, I think, is the fact that none of the women have been indicted, as well.
" ... I think that the women were nothing but pimps on that compound and giving their daughters over to these perverts knowing what was going to happen to them."
Flora added, "I think the nature of the abuse and the severity of the abuse is going to shock people. I spent a month in Texas in June, when I just traveled through the state, and I wanted to know firsthand what was discovered, and spoke with hundreds of CPS (Child Protective Service) caseworkers, and the sense I got was that the local CPS workers felt just as betrayed as the children, and (I) felt they just quit believing in the system, because they were told they couldn't protect these kids."
Flora predicted some of the allegations that will be made in the courtroom will be worse than what's come to light already "because of what I discovered in Texas."
In-Session/Court TV Correspondent Beth Karas, who's been covering the raid's aftermath, told Wragge prosecutors will initially have their work cut out for them. "The biggest hurdle is that they're gonna try to get a jury in the same community where this occurred. People know about this. It's widely publicized. So the big hurdle will be trying to seat a jury of 12 people who can put aside any opinions they have and knowledge they have of the case and just decide it on the evidence."
She said the charges are "very serious": first-degree felonies punishable by five-to-99 years or life in prison."
Karas said she thinks the trial will be "a bit of a spectacle, and they're prepared for it down there because they have a lot of security. They're really stepping up the whole process.
"What the jury's going to hear, though, my understanding (is), is DNA evidence establishing paternity and maternity, and they were not able to get DNA for a lot of these children to determine who belongs to whom. But for the men charged, I believe they have the evidence."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/24/earlyshow/saturday/main5417421.shtml?tag=latest
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AKA Gagal_05
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 22409
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| PerryPeabody
Posted:
Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:30 pm |
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Jury selection begins in FLDS member trial
By Matthew Waller
gosanangelo.com
Posted October 26, 2009 at 12:26 p.m.
SAN ANGELO, Texas — Several residents of the Yearning for Zion Ranch, easily identifiable by their trademark clothing and appearance, were among the 153 Schleicher County residents who showed up for jury duty at 9 a.m. Monday in Eldorado.
Prospective jurors waited patiently in a chilly drizzle driven by a biting wind to get into the Memorial Building, and once inside again waited for two hours while lawyers and the defendant rotated in and out of Judge Barbara Walther’s chambers.
Defendant Raymond Merril Jessop, 38, is accused of child sexual assault in the case, the first criminal trial to come out of the historic raid by the state against the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints.
Jessop and 11 other men were indicted by a Schleicher County grand jury late last year, with many of the allegations springing from records and other evidence seized during the April 2008 raid at the ranch.
Walther has presided over the FLDS cases since the beginning, having overseen the mass custody hearings after 439 children were removed from the ranch and, earlier this year, hearing pre-trial motions in the Jessop case.
“I apologize for getting a late start,” Walther told the jury pool Monday morning. “It’s kind of like getting children ready for school.” Sometimes, she said, it happens quickly, and sometimes it takes longer than expected.
Walther thanked the jurors for showing and then ticked off possible exemptions to jury duty, such as being older than 70. She invited potential jurors to come to the bench to discuss exemptions. As the morning progressed, she released about 17 more members of the jury pool.
At noon, she announced “The good news: Lunch.” She added,” The bad news: You’re going to have to come back at 1:30.”
She cautioned the jury pool against discussing anything to do with the case with the media or their spouses. She left potential jurors with a warning: “If you don’t come back after lunch, the sheriff will go find you and bring you back.”
Outside the building, Department of Public Safety officers in bright yellow rain gear stood watch.
Randy Mankin, owner and editor of the weekly Eldorado Success newspaper, said as he walked out of the Memorial Building that he had been rejected from jury duty because of his news media connections.
There are few people in the county untouched by the trial. Mankin said his son had also been called for jury selection but was excused because he is attending college at Angelo State University, and his mother was also called but excused because she is elderly.
A biting cold wind rustled leaves on the trees surrounding the building, which was marked off with yellow security tape. Jury selection — for which 300 names were originally chosen from the pool of registered Schleicher County voters — was moved from the courthouse to the Memorial Building, which provided a larger venue. Nearly half of the pool was excused or exempted before Monday morning.
“This is nothing,” said Mankin, looking around the Eldorado streetscape. “When the raid was going on, there were 18 satellite trucks out here.”
Jury selection is expected to continue at least to the end of today and possibly for part of Tuesday.
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/oct/26/jury-selection-begins-in-flds-member-trial/
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| Black-Tulip
Posted:
Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:36 pm |
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| gwen wrote: | Texas Polygamist Women Called "Pimps"
Former Sect Member Assails Them Ahead of First Trial of Fundamentalist Group's Men on Child Sex Abuse Counts
[...]
Former polygamist Flora Jessop, who escaped the compound 15 years ago, worked with some of the children after they were taken from the ranch. She now lives in Phoenix with her husband and two kids. Raymond Jessop's father is her cousin, so Raymond is her second cousin.
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Flora Jessop: The Troubled Woman Who Cost Texas $14 Million, and Hundreds of Innocent People Their Peace and Safety
By Gary D. Naler
Flora Jessop, the outspoken media favorite and determined critic of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS), has had the advantage and luxury of accruing audiences who want to believe her or are understandably uninformed about Flora's real life and the FLDS church itself. Therefore, she has been able to say what she wants; and since people are often hearing what they want to hear, she has gotten off scot-free without any accountability or recourse whatsoever for what we now know are an endless string of vicious lies.
[...]
Quote: Flora has been swept up in "the TV interviews, the fame, and the glory. … She loves the attention. She's craved it her whole life.… Nobody wants anything to do with Flora" "Flora's been getting away with these [false] stories for a long time now, and it's time to shut her down" (Pennie Petersen, anti-polygamy activist who grew up with Flora in FLDS)
http://www.expertclick.com/NewsReleaseWire/ReleaseDetails.aspx?ID=22119&CFID=31757774&CFTOKEN=58032317
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| PerryPeabody
Posted:
Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:15 pm |
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Jury selection for FLDS trial goes on - painstakingly slow
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 10/27/2009 12:31:15 PM MDT
Eldorado, Texas » Attorneys questioned 35 potential jurors by mid-day in their attempt to find a panel to hear the criminal case of Raymond Merril Jessop, but there is little indication what progress they are making.
The second day began as the first ended: With pool members being brought one at a time to the bench of 51st District Judge Barbara Walther where discussions are held with prosecutors and defense attorneys. None of those exchanges can be heard at the back of the courtroom, where other prospective jurors and media are seated. [color emphasis added]
Under Texas law, voir dire of potential jurors must take place in open court. [color emphasis added]
Some people in the pool were dismissed after they arrived at the court Tuesday and told to come back at two different designated times; when the first group returned, they were again sent away -- an indication of the painstakingly slow process under way here.
Some interviews with prospective jurors are brief, lasting no more than a minute. That was the case with Janet Jeffs, an FLDS member.
Others last 20 minutes or so, with attorneys appearing to spar over the individual's qualifications as they page through legal code books.
At one point, Walther and the attorneys moved into her chambers for a 15-minute discussion; back in the courtroom, they spent another 15 minutes in debate before bringing the next prospective juror forward for questioning.
On Monday, Walther dismissed 19 of the 153 people who reported for jury duty. After a series of group questions, interviews with potential jurors began. That process continued until just past 8 p.m. and the attorneys were able to process just 24 people before quitting.
Walther said Monday she hoped to seat a jury by the end of Tuesday to hear the state's case against Jessop, 38. He faces one second-degree felony charge of sexual assault of a child for allegedly impregnating a minor in 2004 who was his spiritual wife.
http://www.sltrib.com/polygamy/ci_13651652
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| PerryPeabody
Posted:
Wed Oct 28, 2009 3:21 pm |
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Opening arguments set this afternoon in FLDS criminal trial in Texas
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 10/28/2009 02:04:27 PM MDT
First trial linked to raid at FLDS ranch to beginEldorado, Texas » Opening arguments will be made this afternoon in the criminal trial of Raymond Merrill Jessop after attorneys spent 2 1/2 days selecting a jury.
Fifty-first District Judge Barbara Walther announced at about 1 p.m. that seven men and five women will hear evidence in the case, with two women selected as alternates. Most jurors are middle-aged; five are Latino.
Before the start of the trial the defense team had filed a motion challenging the composition of juries in Schleicher County, arguing that Latinos had historically been under-represented in its panels.
About 30 percent of the county's 2,800 residents are Latino.
Walther recessed the trial until 3:30 p.m. (Central Time), when attorneys for the state and defense will make their opening arguments.
Jessop, 38, is charged with one second-degree count of sexual abuse of a child. The state alleges he had sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old girl in 2004 who was his spiritual wife.
Jessop was charged after authorities conducted an investigation last April at the Yearning For Zion Ranch, home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Seventeen FLDS members who live at the ranch were in the jury pool but none were seated on the jury. Seven disclosed they were related to Jessop by blood and all were involved in the investigation at the ranch in one way or another.
According to the Houston Chronicle , Walther denied a defense motion Tuesday evening that sought to bar discussion of plural marriage during the trial.
After endless hours of uncertainty and waiting, dozens of prospective jurors pumped their fists and gave an audible sigh of relief after Walther announced just before noon they were released.
http://www.sltrib.com/polygamy/ci_13660480
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| PerryPeabody
Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 5:26 pm |
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Judge will allow DNA expert to testify in FLDS trial
BY TRISH CHOATE / STANDARD-TIMES WASHINGTON BUREAU
Posted October 30, 2009 at 2:46 p.m. , updated October 30, 2009 at 2:47 p.m.
SAN ANGELO, Texas — ELDORADO — Prosecutors in a child sexual assault case against a polygamist sect member scored a victory today when the judge ruled she would allow a DNA expert to testify before the jury about paternity tests indicating the defendant fathered a child with a 16-year-old.
Also, 51st District Judge Barbara Walther decided the science behind the DNA evidence was generally accepted and that the DNA evidence was relevant to the case against defendant Raymond Merril Jessop, a 38-year-old member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Walther’s ruling came after about a 90-minute hearing today, and it came in spite of defense attorney Brandon Hudson’s contentions: DNA expert Amy Smuts didn’t know enough about the testing to explain it to a jury, Jessop could just be related to the real father of the child in the close-knit FLDS community, and paternity tests designed for civil cases aren’t suitable for criminal court.
The jury wasn’t present during the hearing.
The judge dismissed the seven-man, five-woman jury just before 3 p.m. Thursday because a juror’s child under 5 was running a high fever and might have swine flu.
The hearing might have been a skirmish in other cases, but it was a full-on battle in this one because of the nature of the charge against Jessop, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
He’s accused of sexually assaulting an underage girl in November 2004 at the Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado. He’d taken the girl as a wife, and paternity tests showing a nearly 100 percent probability that he’s the child’s father could be very damaging if they convince the jury.
Jessop faces two to 20 years in prison if convicted.
In one of the defense’s first chances to erode the credibility of the DNA testing, Hudson hammered at Smuts, a DNA expert from the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth.
Hudson queried her repeatedly about the methods, statistics and science behind DNA testing.
Often, Smuts’ answer was no, she hadn’t read that book or law case, and no, she couldn’t explain the theory behind that.
Hudson even supplied her with some information.
“I don’t mean this in any snarky or sarcastic way ... but I have the formula right here,” Hudson said.
Prosecutor Lisa Tanner told the judge Hudson was asking obscure questions of a DNA expert who didn’t have to know the theory in question or case law. Tanner said Smuts had already fulfilled the requirements “ad nauseam” to show the science was generally accepted and the results of the tests could be duplicated.
An April 2008 raid of the sect’s YFZ Ranch near Eldorado resulted in the removal of more than 400 children — since returned to parents or guardians — and in criminal charges against 12 FLDS men. Those allegations are expected to be supported with evidence from the historic raid.
Jessop is the first of those men to go to trial. He’s also charged with bigamy. But that will be tried in a separate case.
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/oct/30/judge-will-allow-dna-expert-to-testify-in-flds/
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Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 1600
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| AC
Posted:
Fri Oct 30, 2009 5:30 pm |
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Uh, oh! Thanks PerryPeabody!
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Joined: 02 Apr 2006
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| PerryPeabody
Posted:
Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:14 pm |
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FLDS trial, Day 6: More from DNA expert, child service investigator
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 11/02/2009 12:18:43 PM MST
Eldorado, Texas » A Schleicher County jury for the first time heard a DNA expert explain how she concluded that Raymond Merril Jessop is the father of a child born in 2005 to his alleged victim.
Amy Smuts, a forensic analyst, used a poster-sized chart and red marker to show the jury how 15 DNA markers from Jessop matched those of the child, who is now four. Smuts, who works at the Human Identification Lab at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, said the test excluded 99.99997 percent of the male population as the "true biological father" of the child, leaving Jessop in the remaining .00003 percent of males that could not be eliminated.
The state alleges that in 2004, Jessop, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, sexually assaulted the child's mother, who was 16 when she became his spiritual wife.
Prosecutors are relying heavily on genetic and circumstantial evidence to make their case since they do not have a victim claiming assault.
Smuts shared the same information before 51st District Judge Barbara Walther on Friday out of the presence of the jury, which had been excused a day earlier after a juror's child became sick.
As he did Friday, defense attorney Brandon T. Hudson objected to the use of the genetic evidence on constitutional grounds but was overruled by Walther.
The hearing is now in its sixth day. Also on Monday, Barbara Cochrell, an investigator with Texas Child Protective Services, testified she observed the alleged victim on two occasions in a home at the Yearning for Zion Ranch during the state's April 2008 investigation there. The ranch, located just outside of town, is home to FLDS members.
She said six women, including the alleged victim, and 11 children were sitting in a living room at the home when CPS workers arrived on April 4. Cochrell went with the woman, now 21, to her basement bedroom and watched as she packed belongings in anticipation of being removed from the ranch.
Cochrell returned to the home two days later and found the woman and her child, holding hands and waiting in the living room with their packed belongings.
Defense attorney Mark Stevens pointed at Jessop as he asked Cochrell whether she saw him at the home on either visit.
"No, I did not," she said.
http://www.sltrib.com/polygamy/ci_13695487
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| PerryPeabody
Posted:
Tue Nov 03, 2009 7:00 pm |
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Texas judge limits some records in FLDS trial over polygamy references
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 11/03/2009 12:26:40 PM MST
A Texas judge will require the state to redact references to certain people and multiple marriages involving Raymond Merril Jessop from numerous documents it plans to use during his trial.
Attorneys spent two hours Tuesday in the courtroom, with no jury present, going through nearly 20 exhibits culled from a 10-inch high binder and deciding which would be admitted in full or in part.
The trial is expected to resume before the jury this afternoon.
Defense attorney Mark Stevens argued that much of the content of the documents, mostly marriage records or dictations made by Warren S. Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, are extraneous, prejudicial and not relevant to the crime charged to Jessop because they refer to polygamy.
Jessop, 38, faces one count of sexual assault of a child. The state alleges he sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl in 2004 to whom he was not legally married.
Prosecutor Eric Nichols told 51st Judge Barbara Walther the state plans to use the documents to show Jessop was not legally married to his alleged victim and that they both were in Texas at the time the alleged crime occurred.
Among the documents the defense wants kept out: Marriage records that show Jessop married several other women the same day he married the alleged victim.
Stevens said the defense had offered to stipulate to the fact that Jessop and the alleged victim were not legally married but Nichols said Tuesday he would not do that because it might limit the evidence he plans to use.
Walther said she would allow use of the alleged victim's marriage record but did not immediately make a decision on the other records.
Among the documents the judge will admit is a dictation made by Jeffs that discusses the alleged victim being previously married to Raymond Jessop's brother -- a subject hinted at in the defense's questioning of a DNA expert.
The woman, now 21, was apparently married to Jessop's brother in November 2003 and then reassigned to Jessop in August 2004. She gave birth to a child in August 2005.
Other documents debated by the attorneys had titles such as "List of nursing and expectant mothers" and "Babies born at R17" -- a code name used by the FLDS for the Yearning For Zion Ranch, where the state alleges the sexual assault occurred.
Walther ruled in many instances that only portions of documents that reference Jessop and his alleged victim may be used, such as one dictation that describes her three-day labor in 2005 and another that talks about the naming of her child.
The description of the birth, Nichols said, is about the "very pregnancy that is the result of the sexual assault alleged in this case."
Walther said also approved use of a 2007 photograph that shows Jessop sitting at a kitchen table with one young woman while the alleged victim hovers in the background.
Stevens had objected to it as extraneous and prejudicial because the jury will view it as evidence of a polygamous relationship, but Nichols said it depicts a relationship between Jessop and the "very victim in this case.
http://www.sltrib.com/polygamy/ci_13703140
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Joined: 24 Mar 2006
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| PerryPeabody
Posted:
Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:08 pm |
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Raymond Jessop Trial Notes
6:30 p.m. Thursday
November 5, 2009
GUILTY
A Schleicher County jury found Raymond Merril Jessop guilty moments ago on one county of Sexual Assault of a Child. Sentencing is tentavely set for Monday.
Jessop was led from the courtroom in handcuffs and is currently being booked into the Schleicher County Jail.
http://www.myeldorado.net/
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| gwen
Posted:
Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:15 pm |
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Great news, perry!
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AKA Gagal_05
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 22409
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| AC
Posted:
Fri Nov 06, 2009 10:15 am |
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Thanks, Perry!
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| Black-Tulip
Posted:
Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:52 pm |
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Texas jury begins sentence deliberations for polygamist convicted of sex assault of teen 'bride'
By Brooke Adams
Salt Lake Tribune
Updated:11/10/2009 12:33:58 PM MST
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Eldorado, Texas » A Schleicher County jury is deliberating what penalty to give FLDS member Raymond Merril Jessop.
Jurors went into the waiting room just before noon after hearing 30 minute-long closing arguments from attorneys for the state and the defense.
Prosecutors asked the jury to give Jessop, 38, the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in 2004. The defense asked for a maximum of 10 years with probation.
Prosecutor Angela Goodwin told the jury they had the power to send a strong message with their verdict and deter others "in the community, in the country, who might think about coming to Schleicher County" and committing a similar crime.
Probation would amount to a "get-out-of-jail-free card wrapped up in a bow."
The sect contends it follows the laws of God, Goodwin said. She held up a Texas code book in front of the jury and said, "These are the laws of man. These are the laws that need to be followed."
Goodwin showed a photo of Jessop sitting at a kitchen table, a new 15-year-old wife by his side as his victim stood shadowed in the background.
"By your verdict you'll be able to bring a voice to that lady who is standing in the shadows there," Goodwin said.
Defense attorney Mark Stevens reminded jurors that they had said three weeks ago they were open to the possibility of probation for Jessop and urged them to remember that pledge.
He told them that while they had found Jessop guilty, a verdict the defense would not quarrel with, the state had not provided a single bit of evidence that the crime was one of sexual violence, or that Jessop "harmed a single hair" on anyone's head.
He repeated what four residents who had hired Jessop to work on their homes had said about him: That he was a "good man, extremely truthful, honest and helpful."
Even the former FLDS members who testified had nothing bad to say specifically about Jessop, he said.
"Where are their witnesses that would justify something like" sending Jessop to prison for 20 years, Stevens asked.
A predator who preys on little children might deserve 20 years, but not Jessop, who wasn't "hanging around school yards, preying on little children."
Four years ago, he reminded them, it was legal for a girl the age of Jessop's victim to marry with parental permission.
"What evidence did they present to you that this wasn't consensual," he asked.
Giving Jessop probation would place him under the supervision of 51st District Judge Barbara Walther, who Stevens described as "not a soft touch. Judge Walther can be trusted to supervised this case."
Stevens, and later defense attorney Brandon Hudson, asked the jury to not punish Jessop for what others said or his unpopular religion.
"They want you to go back in that room and put a big, fat rubber stamp on what they did," Hudson said, referring to the April 2008 investigation at the sect's Yearning For Zion Ranch.
That investigation led to the charges against Jessop and 11 other men. Ask yourselves, Hudson said, "What do you think is right for Raymond, not for anyone else, for Raymond, the dad."
Prosecutor Eric Nichols closed the arguments by making a passionate plea for the jurors to be tough as they recalled all the evidence they heard over the past two weeks.
They had been able, he said, to go beyond the sect's locked gates, down the long road into the ranch, into homes and the secret Temple vault.
"You are not in a position to avert your eyes or close your ears to what you have seen" and heard in the case, he said.
The state had shown by Jessop's actions and by his position that he was not a person who would abide by probation conditions, Nichols said, and asked that they stand "strong and firm and by your verdict, which is the only way you can communicate with Raymond Jessop, that you can look him in the eye and say, 'No sir, we will not turn a blind eye' " -- a refrain he repeated before suggesting the jury tell Jessop this:
"No sir, Mr. Jessop, we have seen, we have listened, we haven't closed our eyes and now Mr. Jessop, it is time for you to listen."
http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_13754518
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| gwen
Posted:
Wed Nov 11, 2009 4:45 am |
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Polygamist sentenced to 10 years for sex assault of teen 'bride'
Eldorado, Texas » A Schleicher County jury deliberated for six hours Tuesday before sentencing FLDS member Raymond Merril Jessop to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl five years ago.
Under Texas law, Jessop must serve half that time -- five years -- before he is eligible for parole. He also must pay a $8,000 fine.
Asked about the decision as he was escorted back to the Schleicher County Jail, Jessop said, "I'm at peace."
He also answered "yes" when asked whether he felt his trial was religious persecution.
Jessop, 38, will remain in the county jail, where he has been held since the jury found him guilty last Thursday, until transfer paperwork arrives from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran said Jessop will then be moved to San Angelo for processing and assignment to a prison "somewhere in Texas."
Fifty-first District Judge Barbara Walther announced the punishment decision at 6 p.m.
Prosecutor Eric Nichols of the Texas Office of the Attorney General said "justice was served" by the jury, which heard 24 witnesses over the course of the nearly two-week trial.
He praised the coordinated law enforcement effort that began in April 2008 at the polygamous sect's Yearning For Zion Ranch, home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and will continue through 11 more trials set to run over the next year.
The next trial, that of Allen Keate, who faces the same charge, is to begin in three weeks.
In Jessop's trial, prosecutors used the victim's photo album, documents seized from ranch and DNA tests to prove he had taken the woman, then a 15-year-old, as a spiritual wife in August 2004. She conceived a child in November and gave birth to a daughter on Aug. 19, 2005.
The state also showed the woman, now 21, had previously been married to Jessop's brother when she was 15.
The state had asked the jury to give Jessop the maximum sentence -- 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. But Nichols said he was satisfied with the outcome.
"In the state of Texas we have jury punishment," said Nichols, adding neither the state nor the court makes that call. "It is the jury that decides. Yes, justice is done whenever a jury in Texas makes that decision."
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued this statement: "The jury in Schleicher County gave Raymond Merril Jessop a 10-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting a child. Despite the defendant's plea for probation, the jury recognized the seriousness of his crime and decided he deserved a decade in prison. We are grateful to the jurors for their commitment to justice."
During closing arguments earlier Tuesday, prosecutor Angela Goodwin told the jury they had the power to send a strong message with their verdict and deter others "in the community, in the country, who might think about coming to Schleicher County" and committing a similar crime. Probation would amount to a "get out of jail free card wrapped up in a bow," she said.
The sect claims it follows the laws of God, Goodwin said. She held up a Texas code book in front of the jury and said, "These are the laws of man. These are the laws that need to be followed."
Goodwin showed a photo of Jessop sitting at a kitchen table, a new 15-year-old wife by his side as his victim stood shadowed in the background.
"By your verdict you'll be able to bring a voice to that lady who is standing in the shadows there," Goodwin said.
Nichols made a passionate plea for the jurors to be tough as they recalled all the evidence they heard over the past two weeks. They had been able, he said, to go beyond the sect's locked gates, down the long road into the ranch, into homes and the secret Temple vault.
"You are not in a position to avert your eyes or close your ears to what you have seen" and heard in the case, he said.
Nichols asked them to stand "strong and firm and by your verdict, which is the only way you can communicate with Raymond Jessop, that you can look him in the eye and say, 'No sir, we will not turn a blind eye. No sir, Mr. Jessop, we have seen, we have listened, we haven't closed our eyes and now Mr. Jessop, it is time for you to listen.' "
FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop called the trial's outcome "bittersweet" and an example of a "religious war they have chosen to take out on the FLDS."
He said the conviction now allows an appeal of the state's initial investigation at the ranch, which the sect maintains was unlawful.
"We have been waiting for an ability to go to the court of appeals to show them what they did to our community," he said. "The tragic part is, yes, we have Raymond in jail. But I'll tell you, it's a bittersweet day. I'd rather have Raymond in jail than hundreds of little children locked in a coliseum or stuck in Fort Concho.
"What about the thousands of victims they've created? Where was the victim? They knew they didn't have one on April 3; they don't have one today," he said.
Defense attorney Brandon T. Hudson said the jury's decision was a "victory."
"I don't think they (the state) got the verdict they were expecting," he said. But, "I don't think Raymond deserves any time in prison."
During their closing arguments, defense attorneys Mark Stevens and Hudson reminded jurors that they had been selected because of their willingness to consider the possibility of probation for Jessop. They asked them to make that their choice now.
Stevens told them that while they had found Jessop guilty, a verdict the defense would not quarrel with, the state had not provided any evidence that the crime was one of sexual violence, or that Jessop "harmed a single hair" on anyone's head.
He repeated what four residents who had hired Jessop to work on their homes had said about him: That he was a "good man, extremely truthful, honest and helpful."
Jessop was not a "predator who preys on little children," the type of person who might deserve a maximum sentence.
Four years ago, he reminded them, it was legal for a girl the age of Jessop's victim to marry with parental permission.
"What evidence did they present to you that this wasn't consensual?" he asked.
Giving Jessop probation would place him under Walther's supervision, whom Stevens described as "not a soft touch. Judge Walther can be trusted to supervise this case."
But the jury opted not to give Jessop probation.
Defense attorney Brandon Hudson asked the jury to not punish Jessop for what others said or his unpopular religion.
"They want you to go back in that room and put a big, fat rubber stamp on what they did," Hudson said, referring to the April 2008 investigation.
Ask yourselves, Hudson said, "What do you think is right for Raymond, not for anyone else, for Raymond, the dad."
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13756674
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AKA Gagal_05
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 22409
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| PerryPeabody
Posted:
Mon Nov 16, 2009 7:03 pm |
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FLDS: New jurors sought as Eldorado tires of trials
One case down; 11 other sect members remain to be tried
By Jennifer Rios, Matthew Waller
Posted November 14, 2009 at 8:56 p.m.
SAN ANGELO, Texas — If you live in Schleicher County and you didn’t get called to jury duty in the polygamist sect-related cases, don’t worry — chances are there will be other opportunities.
Already the search has started for a jury in the trial of Allan Eugene Keate, a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints member charged with a first-degree felony of sexual assault of a minor.
His case is scheduled for Dec. 7 in Schleicher County.
Brenda Mayfield, the county’s elections administrator, said prospective jurors are pulled from voter registration or driver’s license rolls.
The jury pool in Schleicher County is 2,596, Mayfield said. Nearly 1,900 of the pool comes from registered voters.
“If they were on the first list pulled by their voter card, and they’re pulled in this list, it could be because of their driver’s license,” Mayfield said.
Anybody who did not serve on the jury in the first case involving an FLDS member that wrapped up last week is eligible to sit on a jury for the remaining cases. There are still 11 other cases involving church members from the Yearning for Zion Ranch.
“The only way they’re out of the mix for the other trials is if they’ve served,” Mayfield said.
Some Eldorado residents have already had enough of the trial.
“I think it’s a mess,” Shirley Emmons said. “It’s going to make our taxes go up for all that trial.”
Others say that the trials’ ubiquitous presence is too strong.
“It’s going to be very hard for our community here,” Norma Torres said. “That’s just what’s on everybody’s mind. That’s all you hear is them talking about that and having all these state troopers. Everybody knows what’s going on. Overwhelming is what it is.”
51st District Judge Barbara Walther, who decides where the trials will be held, was out of the office Friday and not available for comment.
The previous jury found Raymond Merril Jessop guilty of sexually assaulting a minor, a 16-year-old girl, in November 2004 at the YFZ ranch. He had taken her as a “celestial” or “spiritual” wife when she was 15.
She was one of Jessop’s eight spiritual wives in addition to his one legal wife.
Jessop received a 10-year prison sentence and an $8,000 fine. He will not be eligible for parole until he serves at least five years of the sentence.
The evidence for the case came during the April 2008 raid when Texas authorities, investigating what turned out to be a hoax call of a woman claiming abuse, took 439 children away from their FLDS families and gathered about three trailer loads of evidence from different houses and the secret and sacred Temple Annex vault.
Texas authorities returned the children to their parents or guardians under the mandate of the Texas Supreme Court.
The evidence, however, which includes church records, computers and even personal diaries, stayed with the authorities and the Texas Attorney General’s Office used them in Jessop’s prosecution.
Besides documents putting Jessop on the ranch around the time of the assault, a DNA expert testified that a child resulting from the sexual assault had an almost 100 percent probability of being Jessop’s.
Daniel Benson, a Texas Tech University law professor, said that each case will be unique.
“Each case is different. It turns on its own facts,” Benson said. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all deal, but if they have the same kind of fact pattern they might get the same kind of results.”
Benson said the state could offer plea deals to avoid the repetition of holding trials for the similar cases.
He said the defense could still object to evidence and plead guilty without ruining the chance for an appellate court to say the evidence was wrongly allowed in the trial.
“The prosecutors might reasonably think that if this is a typical case, they probably might go somewhat lower just to get the defense to plead guilty,” Benson said. “It’s kind of a protection for the defendant. They don’t have to go through all the expense and risk of a trial.”
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/nov/14/new-jurors-sought-as-eldorado-tires-of-trials/?partner=popular
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Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 1600
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| PerryPeabody
Posted:
Mon Nov 16, 2009 7:03 pm |
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FLDS: New jurors sought as Eldorado tires of trials
One case down; 11 other sect members remain to be tried
By Jennifer Rios, Matthew Waller
Posted November 14, 2009 at 8:56 p.m.
SAN ANGELO, Texas — If you live in Schleicher County and you didn’t get called to jury duty in the polygamist sect-related cases, don’t worry — chances are there will be other opportunities.
Already the search has started for a jury in the trial of Allan Eugene Keate, a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints member charged with a first-degree felony of sexual assault of a minor.
His case is scheduled for Dec. 7 in Schleicher County.
Brenda Mayfield, the county’s elections administrator, said prospective jurors are pulled from voter registration or driver’s license rolls.
The jury pool in Schleicher County is 2,596, Mayfield said. Nearly 1,900 of the pool comes from registered voters.
“If they were on the first list pulled by their voter card, and they’re pulled in this list, it could be because of their driver’s license,” Mayfield said.
Anybody who did not serve on the jury in the first case involving an FLDS member that wrapped up last week is eligible to sit on a jury for the remaining cases. There are still 11 other cases involving church members from the Yearning for Zion Ranch.
“The only way they’re out of the mix for the other trials is if they’ve served,” Mayfield said.
Some Eldorado residents have already had enough of the trial.
“I think it’s a mess,” Shirley Emmons said. “It’s going to make our taxes go up for all that trial.”
Others say that the trials’ ubiquitous presence is too strong.
“It’s going to be very hard for our community here,” Norma Torres said. “That’s just what’s on everybody’s mind. That’s all you hear is them talking about that and having all these state troopers. Everybody knows what’s going on. Overwhelming is what it is.”
51st District Judge Barbara Walther, who decides where the trials will be held, was out of the office Friday and not available for comment.
The previous jury found Raymond Merril Jessop guilty of sexually assaulting a minor, a 16-year-old girl, in November 2004 at the YFZ ranch. He had taken her as a “celestial” or “spiritual” wife when she was 15.
She was one of Jessop’s eight spiritual wives in addition to his one legal wife.
Jessop received a 10-year prison sentence and an $8,000 fine. He will not be eligible for parole until he serves at least five years of the sentence.
The evidence for the case came during the April 2008 raid when Texas authorities, investigating what turned out to be a hoax call of a woman claiming abuse, took 439 children away from their FLDS families and gathered about three trailer loads of evidence from different houses and the secret and sacred Temple Annex vault.
Texas authorities returned the children to their parents or guardians under the mandate of the Texas Supreme Court.
The evidence, however, which includes church records, computers and even personal diaries, stayed with the authorities and the Texas Attorney General’s Office used them in Jessop’s prosecution.
Besides documents putting Jessop on the ranch around the time of the assault, a DNA expert testified that a child resulting from the sexual assault had an almost 100 percent probability of being Jessop’s.
Daniel Benson, a Texas Tech University law professor, said that each case will be unique.
“Each case is different. It turns on its own facts,” Benson said. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all deal, but if they have the same kind of fact pattern they might get the same kind of results.”
Benson said the state could offer plea deals to avoid the repetition of holding trials for the similar cases.
He said the defense could still object to evidence and plead guilty without ruining the chance for an appellate court to say the evidence was wrongly allowed in the trial.
“The prosecutors might reasonably think that if this is a typical case, they probably might go somewhat lower just to get the defense to plead guilty,” Benson said. “It’s kind of a protection for the defendant. They don’t have to go through all the expense and risk of a trial.”
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/nov/14/new-jurors-sought-as-eldorado-tires-of-trials/?partner=popular
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Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 1600
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Posted:
Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:25 pm |
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Texas Polygamist Gets 33 Years for Child Sex Abuse
Texas (Dec. 1 - The Texas attorney general's office says a 57-year-old member of a polygamist group has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for the sexual assault of a child.
The office says in a statement that a jury decided Thursday on the punishment for Allan Eugene Keate, the second member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to be convicted on that charge.
The jury at a court in Eldorado, West Texas, deliberated for under two hours Tuesday before convicting Keate for his "spiritual marriage" to a 15-year-old girl who gave birth at age 16.
The prosecution's case largely relied on records seized from the polygamists' Yearning For Zion Ranch in April 2008, including some that indicated Keate had six wives aged 17 to 49 in 2007.
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Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 11146
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| PerryPeabody
Posted:
Mon Feb 08, 2010 2:56 pm |
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Judge vacates polygamist leader's hearing in Arizona
The Associated Press
Updated: 02/08/2010 12:16:36 PM MST
Kingman, Ariz. » A judge has granted a defense request to bar evidence seized in the raid of a polygamous sect in Texas from being used in polygamist leader Warren Jeffs' trial in Arizona.
Mohave County Superior Court Judge Steven Conn's decision means a Feb. 17 hearing on the request has been vacated.
Prosecutor Matt Smith and Jeffs' attorneys agreed in documents released Monday that no evidence from the April 2008 raid on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints compound in Eldorado, Texas, will be used directly or indirectly in the Arizona case.
Conn says he believed the issue had been a major obstacle in resolving the case.
Jeffs is awaiting trial in Arizona on four counts of being an accomplice to sexual conduct with a minor, charges filed in 2007.
http://www.sltrib.com/polygamy/ci_14358575
The ORDER appears at:
http://www.mohavecourts.com/highprofile/743-Order%2002-05-10.pdf
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