home

Tag: Polygamist Raid

TX Supreme Court: Seizure of Polygamous Compound Kids Invalid

Update: Grits for Breakfast has a news and blog roundup and some commentary.

The Texas Supreme Court has upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that found there was no valid justification for seizing children at the compound of a polygmamous religious sect.

The Texas Supreme Court agreed with a lower court's ruling, that Child Protective Services did not present ample evidence that the children were being abused. The high court ruling could possibly clear the way for the children to be returned to their families. They were removed in April from the Yearning for Zion (YFZ) Ranch, near Eldorado.

"We are not inclined to disturb the court of appeals' decision," the ruling said. "On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted."

Via How Appealing: Today's ruling of the Supreme Court of Texas consisted of a majority opinion and an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. The majority opinion in a second, related case can be accessed here.

It's time to return these children to their parents. Background on the Court of Appeals ruling is here.

(41 comments) Permalink :: Comments

Defense Files Challenge to Raid on Polygamist Sect Compound

Criminal defense attorney Gerry Goldstein, lead counsel for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has wasted no time in filing a blistering attack on the raid on the polygmanist sect's Texas compound:

At the crux of the 39-page motion Goldstein filed Thursday in the Texas 51st Judicial District Court on behalf of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a revelation that the man authorities were looking for, Dale Evans Barlow, was in Arizona at the time of the April 3 raid. Texas Rangers searched the polygamist sect’s Yearning For Zion Ranch near Eldorado, Texas, for a week after receiving reports from a woman claiming to be a 16-year-old named Sarah Jessop, who alleged that Barlow was sexually abusing her. However, police now suspect the reports were a prank engineered by a woman in Colorado Springs with a history of false reporting.

More...

(32 comments, 539 words in story) There's More :: Permalink :: Comments