Community | October 24, 2009 | 13 comments

Polygamist sect focus of rare trial in Texas town

source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hBU8uyQITnik8O4KnPAr1aXka0PAD9BHNKL00

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remanns
SAN ANGELO, Texas — The first jury trial in more than a decade in the sleepy West Texas town of Eldorado involves an alleged polygamist and an accusation of sexual assault of an underage bride, a far cry from the occasional drunken driving cases that normally occupy the Schleicher County court system.
Attorneys on Monday will begin culling the largest jury pool ever called in Eldorado to try to find 14 people in a county of 2,800 who can set aside what they have heard about a polygamist sect whose alleged marriages involving underage girls triggered a police raid that swept more than 400 children into state custody last year.
Raymond Jessop, 38, will become the first man from the Yearning For Zion Ranch to go on trial here. He is charged with sexual assault of a child — an underage girl he allegedly married first — and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He is also charged with bigamy for allegedly marrying a second underage girl, but will be tried on that charge separately.
In all, 12 sect men have been charged with crimes ranging from failure to report child abuse to bigamy and sexual assault at the ranch, where women and girls wear braids and pastel prairie dresses. They have all denied wrongdoing.
The cases began after a woman in Colorado allegedly called a Texas domestic abuse hot line in March 2008 and pretended to be a teenage girl with a much-older husband who raped and beat her. State authorities swooped in, taking 439 children away from their sheltered lives and hundreds of boxes of documents and family photos to build their case. The Texas Rangers have acknowledged the hot line information was false, but the caller has never been charged.
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13 comments // Polygamist sect focus of rare trial in Texas town

  • J_Jammer
    • 0
      J_Jammer [removed]  

    • Civil duty..ha.

      It's more of a slave duty. There should just be jurors for hirer that travel or whatever....but if there is going to be a legal person on the bench and two legal people speaking on behalf of their party...why can there not be smart people in the jury box who know what the hell is going on?

      I swear to god the reason people get off when guilty or put in jail because they are innocent is because lawyers and judges have agendas and they steamroll people in hopes of getting elected and they use the naive jury to get what they want. That's not ok and yet people think that it's all fair game because it's a jury of your "peers". That is such a load of BS.

      The lawyers sit there and pick jurors in hopes that they are loyal to one side more than the other or they are really stupid and don't get what the hell is going on and therefore malleable enough to be pulled aside for a WIN. Not a win for justice...just a win for win's sake.

      Juries should be able to see through the BS and to the heart of the matter and lawyers and judges CANNOT be trusted to do that or to show it, for that matter. They almost don't care enough to be that way (criminal court---family court is a bit different as well as Juvenal court).

      Unbias people in Texas small town? hahahaha...good luck.

      Love the picture.

    • 2 years ago
  • remanns
    • 0
      remanns  
    • J_Jammer:

      Well,....Im not just dying to throw myself to the mercy of my "peers" where I live in Texas. Striving to stay out of trouble; some ot these "crotchety ol bible thumpin non drinkin non dancin no foolin about" Texas biddies would prefer to "hang me high" for light beer and jay walking. Scary people. (Been vetted for jury duty,...got to meet-em)

    • 2 years ago
  • HowdyDo
    • 0
      HowdyDo  

    • It's sick - hiding behind religion to take advantage of young, naive girls. These pedophiles have been getting away with this for generations - brain-washed their mothers so it is passed down - at least Texas had the balls to do something about it - CUDOS!

    • 2 years ago
  • trut
  • nursediesel
    • 0
      nursediesel  

    • I'm sure some of the men drawn to this situation see the attraction of extremely young virgins as brides. Just like pedophiles are drawn to jobs and volunteer positions were children typically are, but I doubt all of the men in this group are pedophiles.

    • 2 years ago
  • sugarlilly
    • 0
      sugarlilly  

    • "The Texas Rangers have acknowledged the hot line information was false, but the caller has never been charged."

      the caller should get an award, not prosecution!

    • 2 years ago
  • TasteHi
  • KSirys
  • hunzedog
  • mojojuju
  • Kay_Bee
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