From the texas FLDS raid two years ago. You know the one in which no one was charged with committing the crime of which they were accused.
just because its not on rockwell doesn't mean it didn't happen
you missed out on the flds guys starting to cop pleas?
SAN ANGELO, Texas — Michael Emack walked into the courtroom, sat down and stretched out his handcuffed hands to shake with those around him, with his lawyer Randy Wilson, with Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints spokesman Willie Jessop, and finally with the man seated next to him, Lehi Barlow Jeffs, who was there to plead no contest to charges of bigamy and sexual assault of a child.
Emack and Jeffs were the latest sect members, fellow residents of the Yearning for Zion Ranch, to be sentenced as an outcome of the state raid on the ranch two years ago.
Emack’s orange jumpsuit clashed with Jeffs’ blue button-down shirt. Emack, 59, an FLDS member, had pleaded no contest in January to sexual assault of a child, a 16-year-old girl with whom he fathered a child. He received a seven-year sentence from 51st District Judge Barbara Walther.
Emack was in Walther’s court again Thursday to plead no contest again, this time to a charge of bigamy.
The state, led by prosecuting attorney Eric Nichols, presented dozens of records to make the case that, besides his legal wife, he had three “spiritual” or “celestial” wives.
“You intend to give up your right to a jury ... and your right to remain silent?” Walther asked Emack before the evidence was presented.
“Yes,” Emack said.
Walther sentenced him to seven years, to be served concurrently with his previous sentence.
Jeffs, 31, and the nephew of the former leader of the FLDS, was next. He took a plea deal and was sentenced to eight years in prison for sexual assault of a child, a girl who was bound to him in a nonlegal marriage when she was 15 years old. The assault itself — based on the date of birth of her child — was alleged to have occurred on Sept. 18, 2006.
Jeffs also plead no contest to bigamy. He was sentenced to eight years, to be served concurrently with his other sentence.
A trial on a charge of sexual assault of a child had been scheduled for Jeffs on Monday in Schleicher County.
Both Jeffs and Emack will need to serve half of their sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
The lawyers worked out the conditions under which Emack and Jeffs could appeal their cases, namely if granted an appealed motion to suppress evidence or if the constitutionality of bigamy laws were successfully challenged.
“Your appeal will be limited to what we have discussed,” Walther told Jeffs. “Do you understand?”
Jeffs said he did.
“The grounds we have reserved for appeal are very strong,” Wilson said.
Nichols also presented a stack of papers with family group records, priesthood records, birth records, letters and forensic DNA reports before Walther found Jeffs guilty given his no contest plea.
Wilson said the entire prosecution of FLDS members amounted to religious persecution.
“Religious matters should be separate from matters of government,” Wilson said. “They are too high and holy. ... All people should be free to the free exercise of religion. ...
“The government should have no more to do with the principals of religion than with the principles of mathematics.”
Wilson said the state of Texas regularly helps underage girls who are pregnant but those who assaulted them are not pursued or prosecuted.
Outside the courthouse, with law enforcement personnel flanking him, Nichols said that the plea for no contest is practically the same as a guilty plea.
Jessop, who often acts as a spokesman for the FLDS, said the “selective prosecution” that the state is engaged in hasn’t altered much since he came to San Angelo during the April 2008 raid that, based on what is now thought to be a hoax phone call alleging abuse, resulted in the removal of more than 400 children from the ranch and the seizure of personal and community property to use as evidence against the FLDS.
“My first introduction to the courthouse was a big yellow tape around it that said ‘crime scene,’” Jessop said. “There is no change.”
another one
Texas conviction of FLDS member resulting in fascinating jury sentencing experience
As detailed in this local report, which is headlined "Testimony in Sentencing for FLDS Member," the recent conviction in Texas of an FLDS member on sex charges has now led to a fascinating jury sentencing proceeding:
A jury that convicted a member of the Utah-based FLDS Church will begin deliberating his sentence. After a day-long hearing on Monday that included hours of testimony, a judge set closing arguments and deliberations on Tuesday in the case of Raymond Jessop. Jessop, 38, was convicted of child sex assault for fathering a child with a 16-year-old girl who was a polygamous wife. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
The jury is deciding the sentence. On Monday, testimony included an FBI agent, a pair of Texas Rangers who testified about documents, and two former members of the polygamous church.
Here are more details about the jury sentencing proceedings in this case from additional media accounts headlined "Talk of 'celestial wives,' long-term effects of assault," and "Sentence is expected Tuesday for FLDS man":
Jurors are to report back 9:30 a.m. today to the improvised 51st Judicial District Courtroom to hear closing statements from the defense and prosecution. Then they will begin the task of deliberating on what his punishment should be for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in November 2004 at the Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado.
Jurors will have to choose between two portraits drawn in the courtroom of Jessop. Is he the self-sacrificing, hardworking father who can cross the boundaries of religion and culture to form friendships and who can be trusted not to smoke, drink or cuss around someone’s family?
Or, as the prosecution would have jurors believe, is Jessop the powerful FLDS man who benefited from the church grooming underage girls to accept marriage with men twice their age, married eight “purported” wives in addition to his legal wife, helped hide now imprisoned Warren Jeffs and endangered his unborn child and the victim while she was in labor?
Jessop could receive two to 20 years in prison. He could also receive community supervision.
Anyone inclined to make predictions about how the jury will sentence in this case?
