Associated Press
San Angelo, Texas – A court hearing to decide the fates of hundreds of children seized from a polygamist retreat ground to a halt almost as soon as it began Thursday as hundreds of lawyers demanded to study the first piece of evidence before it could be introduced.
State District Judge Barbara Walther called a recess 40 minutes after the hearing began in what could be the nation’s largest child custody case. She wanted to allow the 350 lawyers spread out in two buildings to read the evidence and decide whether to object en masse or make individual objections.
The lawyers are representing the 416 children and dozens of parents from the Yearning For Zion ranch owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a renegade Mormon sect accused of forcing underage girls into polygamous marriages.
The 80-year-old Tom Green County courtroom and a satellite courtroom set up in a City Hall auditorium two blocks away were jammed with dozens of mothers from the retreat, dressed in their iconic pastel prairie dresses and braided upswept hair.
The mothers were sworn in as witnesses, standing and mumbling their ‘I do’s’ in timid voices. As they sat silently, the flock of lawyers was constantly buzzing with murmurs and popping up to make motions or object as Walther tried to maintain order.
But when prosecutors tried to enter into evidence the medical records of three girls – two 17-year-olds and an 18-year-old – the lawyers jumped to their feet and crammed the aisles trying to see the papers. That’s when Walther called the recess.
Outside, where satellite trucks lined the street in front of the courthouse’s columned facade, a man who said he was an FLDS father waved a photo of himself surrounded by his four children, ranging in age from an infant to about 9.
“Look, look, look,” the father said. “These children are all smiling, we’re happy.”
Walther signed an emergency order nearly two weeks ago giving the state custody of the children after a 16-year-old girl called an abuse hot line claiming her husband, a 50-year-old member of the sect, beat and raped her. The girl has yet to be identified.
Authorities raided the Eldorado ranch and spent a week collecting documents and disk drives that might provide evidence of underage girls being married to adults.
The children, first taken to local shelters, were later moved to a historic fort and then to a domed coliseum on the fairgrounds in San Angelo. All but 27 adolescent boys are staying in the coliseum and a nearby building; the teenage boys are at a boys ranch near Amarillo.
If the judge gives the state permanent custody of the children, the child services agency will begin looking for foster homes in a case that has already stretched the legal resources of San Angelo and the state’s child welfare system.
The custody case is one of the largest in U.S. history and involves children from 6 months to 17 years in age. Roughly 100 of the children are under age 4.
State officials contend the children were being physically and sexually abused or were in imminent danger of such abuse.
FLDS members say the state is persecuting them for their faith and that their 1,700-acre Yearning for Zion Ranch, with its soaring white temple and log cabin-style houses, is simply a home isolated from a hostile and sinful world.
They deny children were abused.
“It’s the furthest thing away from what we do here,” said Dan, a sect member who spoke at the compound Wednesday but declined to give his last name because he fears how it will affect his children in state custody. “There’s nothing that’s more disliked and more trained against.”
A major issue will be how a home is defined – whether by the individual house each child lived in or by the larger ranch, said attorney Susan Hays, who represents a 2-year-old child. Under Texas law, if sexual abuse is occurring in a home and a parent does not stop it, then the parent can lose custodial rights.
The judge also must decide whether it’s in the best interest of children who have lived insulated lives to be suddenly placed into mainstream society, Hays said.
Typically, each child would be given a separate hearing, but given the number of cases, it’s likely the judge will have the state, the children’s attorneys and the parents’ attorneys make consolidated presentations, at least initially, said Harper Estes, president-elect of the state bar.
“You can’t go one-by-one,” Estes said.
If the judge gives the state permanent custody, it will have an enormous challenge in finding homes for the children in an already tight foster system.
The agency has relied on volunteers to help feed the children, launder linens and provide crafts and games for them in a dorm-style setting for the past two weeks. But the agency will have to find stable homes and try to decipher sibling relationships that should be preserved if it gets permanent custody.
Even identifying groups of siblings has been challenging so far.
“There’s quite a lot of difficulty in identifying how many of these children are biologically related to one another. There’s a large number who are half-siblings,” Gonzales said.
The children, who dress in pioneer-style clothes meant to emphasize modesty, have been raised in the insular FLDS community.
The sect came to West Texas in 2003, relocating some members from the church’s traditional home along the Utah-Arizona state line. It traces its religious roots to the early theology of the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which now denounces polygamy and excommunicates members found practicing it.
Associated Press writer Jennifer Dobner in Eldorado, Texas, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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posted April 17, 2008 at 5:42 pm
It’s great the authorities acted. Now they’ve got a mess on their hands but they need to persevere and bring safety to the children and probably women and justice to those responsible.
I’m betting they were making a bundle on welfare payments, too.
posted April 17, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I’ve been following this in the Standard-Times paper in San Angelo, TX.
Each child has to have a seperate lawyer, there are so many lawyers flying in from all over that the San Angelo people are offering their homes for the lawyers to stay in.
The Churches have been helping serve the children and the mothers since the beginning. A Lutheran Church’s members have been busily sewing quilts for each and every child in custody.
I read the local peoples comments after each article and it is very interesting. Some are completely hostile, but most feel that this is a good thing to remove these children and mothers from abuse, and worse.
If this were any situation outside of this Cult, and a child was missing or couldn’t be accounted for after calling authorities for help, and the man was a convicted sex-offender in another state who the child said she was married in some way to, it wouldn’t matter if he had people to vouch for him that he never left another state to go to her. He could have made trips during the night, couldn’t he? They say there is several teen-agers with the same name, that’s safe isn’t it? If no one will come forward in this group of pastel-dressed mothers and say who this child might be, hasn’t it ever occurred to someone that she may be dead? When amber alerts are sounded for children the first thing everyone says is I hope she hasn’t been killed. I haven’t heard this once.
posted April 17, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Apparently the children’s births aren’t recorded, so there is no evidence of how old they are. What a mess this whole thing is!
posted April 18, 2008 at 9:58 am
Henrietta, I agree with you that it is quite possible that the 16-year old girl who filed this complaint has been spirited away by the cult. I wouldn’t put it past them to kill her to silence her. If they found out who she was, I wouldn’t put anything past these people.
pagansister, it also occured to me that the judge should require DNA testing to determine parentage, etc. The judge may not be able to force parents to get DNA testing, but she could do it as a condition of getting their children back. If the parents aren’t willing to disclose information that would help a judge decide their cases, then the parents should pay the penalty. This cult has been gaming the system for too long, not keeping birth and marriage records, practicing welfare fraud, etc.
I have no problem with my tax dollars going to keep people like Warren Jeffs in prison for life, but I have a big problem with my tax dollars supporting this sick and dysfunctional polygamist lifestyle.
posted April 18, 2008 at 11:49 am
Amen, Alicia.
posted April 18, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Alicia:
Let’s hope the judge has the same idea as you mentioned..DNA tests. If the mothers aren’t willing to do so, to prove parentage, then how much do they really want them returned. Of course, when parentage is perhaps discovered, is it safe to return the children? I personally don’t think so, but then I’m not a lawyer. I’m wondering how the children are coping. I expect the younger ones are totally confused and scared. The older ones? Hopefully they may understand and some even may be relieved.
posted April 18, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Alicia, Banking on Heaven, Laurie Allens DVD can be bought at Barnes & Noble or go to http://www.banking on heaven.com for more info. It isn’t a book. I think Daughter of the Saints is a book, by Dorothy A. Soloman.
Pagansister I think the children will adjust, Children recover with attention and love, always. Wittness children taken from violent homes, the only difference is they aren’t brain-washed against people outside their familes as evil-doers. If the mothers want to leave the cult they are in and want their children I imagine they will be helped.
Have you read Escape yet, or visted San Angelo’s paper?
posted April 18, 2008 at 9:45 pm
No, Henrietta, I haven’t read Escape yet, but intend to. Thanks for the recommendtion.
I hope that at least some of the mothers have the courage to leave, if indeed they aren’t so deeply ingrained with the life they have/are living. We can hope that some will leave and maybe they could get their children back…but I would think that there would be follow ups to make sure they didn’t return to the life after getting their children returned to them.
posted April 19, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Here’s a somewhat detailed AP article about the history of the compound as experienced by the neighbors.
posted April 19, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Thanks for the article nnmns. I didn’t know they lied to the owners of the property they bought it from near El Dorado. Just one other good reason that they can’t be trusted with anything they claim.
On Nancy Grace’s show last night they showed a lady called, Marilyn Jeffs who Carolyn Jessop said was a wife ,of some sort, of Warren Jeffs in jail. She was asked if she knew her and she said, “yes, but the Marilyn that was showing everyone around wasn’t the Marilyn she recognized. She’s in their somewhere, but her every action, and mannerisms are Warren Jeffs” now. Every room had pictures of Warren Jeffs, some had as many as three. They were in the halls as well. No other pictures are on the walls. She said this compound is worse than what she experienced, because there is no evidence of anyone’s personality around.
It sounds as though the cult is becoming more dispassionate about feelings. It certainly doesn’t show any encouraging things around for the children, not books, not crayons, not little pictures drawn for mommies and daddies. I hope that these children never set foot in this institution again.
posted April 21, 2008 at 3:43 pm
DNA testing is supposed to start today to see if they can figure out parentage. Am still not sure those folks need their kids back. This will take awhile…and who really knows what the ultimate decision will be as to the fate of the 400 plus children?
posted April 21, 2008 at 6:49 pm
I think this action on the part of the State of Texas is the best thing that ever happened to the FLDS church. This is not religious persecution, it’s an attempt to get an insular, cult-like, secretive sect that in some cases is engaging in criminal behavior to clean up it’s act.
Concievably, this will make it easier for those who want to leave the FLDS church to get out, and may cause the existing church leadership (those not in prison) to move in a more rational direction to end the practice of child marriage and coerced marriage. Getting them to end polygamy might be a bit harder, since it is their r’aison d’etre.
Imagine if a man had to convince several different women to marry him rather than coercing them to marry him (or marrying because the church leaders ordered it) and had to prove that he could support them without their having to go on welfare? That in itself would do a lot to change the practice.
posted April 21, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Am watching the news and apparently there are loads of kids with exactly the same name! Example: Katy Jones…there would be 15 of them! The reporter said if you call out a name, 12-15 kids would answer because they all have that name. Also there has been so much intermarriage, the DNA might not be clear as to who’s parent is who’s.
It was also mentioned that the under 4′s might also be getting tested…meaning I guess that they will also be taken away from their mothers.
posted April 21, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Apparently there may also be one man who is married to 22 wives who all live on the ranch. I’m wondering if that man is Merrill Jessop.
In a group where there is as much intermarriage (and, let’s face it, incest) it’s going to be hard to do normal genetic testing. But, at least the judge will have more information in order to make a valid and fair decision. Have a good evening, everyone.
posted April 21, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Alicia did you hear Rulon ? speaking on TV today? Carolyn Jessop said the other night on Larry King that the members have an accent, or a way of style that is unlike other people, and she wondered if the missing Sarah had the same kind of cadence that they use, on the phone when she was speaking. Anyway, I think I know what she means after hearing Rulon have his little plea for the children. It sounds like he has a switch that has been turned on, sort of like the Stepford Wives movie, the last movie made of the Stepford wives. Like a robot.
Have a great night, too!
posted April 22, 2008 at 9:38 am
Hi, Henrietta,
I didn’t hear Rulon, but my impression of the women from the cult who have been speaking out has also been that they were somewhat robotic, sort of pioneer-style Stepford wives. Even the men, I noticed, speak with very soft, breathy voices that suggest, not merely shyness, but, to me, a lack of a strong sense of self.
Again, I can’t help but feel that this exposure to the outside world, unwelcome as it may seem to those in this cult, may be the best thing that ever happened to them. I’m hopeful.
posted April 22, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Hi, Alicia,
There were only three men from the ranch that turned up for the genetic testing by 10:30 this am. Rulon was one, and he commented that it made him feel like a criminal.
The mothers and fathers of course want their children back so the ones who were there early are intent on this. All mothers want their babies with them, but according to books and interviews from ex-members the price is that they only belong to the mothers care as the men decree it, and that can mean beatings, starving, and other neglect or abuse. I read on comments from the local city paper in TX that they should give the children to the mothers and put the men in jail. Any man who holds a baby under a water faucet, while it’s crying from being spanked should have been in jail a long time ago.
posted April 22, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Hi, Henrietta,
I couldn’t agree more that some of the men in this community belong in jail. But, of course, those are the men who will probably not come forward to be tested, but will rather protect themselves by keeping in the background. That’s why I believe a very thorough investigation of all the records that were seized, eyewitness testimony, etc. needs to happen.
It’s also probable that some of the women of this community could be prosecuted for aiding and abetting, child neglect, or something of that sort (or welfare fraud).
In a way, I think many of the men and women of this community are also victims of this dysfunctional cult. This has been going on for generations. Unfortunately, it seems the leadership has been becoming more twisted and authoritarian over the past few years. It was high time for the government to step in and put a stop to this.