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  New Trial Date Set for Polygamists

By Jim Seckler
Daily News [Kingman UT]
January 21, 2007

http://www.mohavedailynews.com/articles/2007/01/22/news/local/local2.txt

A new trial date has been set for a Colorado City polygamist charged with having sexual relations with an underage girl.

Rodney Holm's trial before Superior Court Judge Steven Conn has now been set for Feb. 21. Holm, 40, a former Colorado City police officer, is charged with three counts of sexual conduct with a minor.

Holm and seven other codefendants belong to a controversial polygamist sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Colorado City.

Holm and two remaining defendants still have trials pending. So far, two defendants have been convicted, one defendant has been acquitted, one defendant has accepted a plea agreement and charges against the last defendant were dismissed.

Randolph Barlow's bench trial before Conn was also postponed indefinitely. Barlow, 33, is charged with two counts of sexual conduct with a minor. A bench trial is where a judge, not a jury, decides whether a defendant is guilty or not guilty.

Dale Evans Barlow's trial also before Conn is set to begin Feb. 14. Barlow, 49, is charged with one count of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor.

The sentencing hearing for Vergel Jessop, 47, has not been set. He pleaded no contest Dec. 18 to an undesignated charge of child abuse. He had been charged with sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor.

Under the plea agreement, Jessop will be sentenced to probation for three years with no additional jail time. If he completes his probation, the felony charge will be designated as a misdemeanor. Conn will also decide if Jessop must register as a sex offender.

David Bateman, 49, was convicted in October of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. Judge James Chavez sentenced him Dec. 18 to nine months in state prison and he must register as a sex offender.

Kelly Fischer, 39, was the first codefendant to be tried and convicted of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. He was sentenced in August to 45 days in county jail and probation.

In September, a Mohave County jury acquitted Donald Barlow, 50, of one count of sexual conduct with a minor.

Charges against Terry Barlow were dropped in October. Barlow, 25, was charged with one count of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor.

The church's leader, Warren Jeffs, currently faces rape charges in Utah. He is also charged in Mohave County with three counts of sexual conduct with a minor.

 
 

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