BishopAccountability.org
 
  Majority of Utahns Say Removal of FLDS Children Was Justified

By Brian West
Deseret Morning News
April 10, 2008

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695269082,00.html

SAN ANGELO, Texas — As the legal battle begins over last week's siege of an FLDS compound here, a majority of Utahns believe law enforcement was justified in removing more than 400 children from the ranch, a new Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll shows.

In a Texas courtroom Wednesday, attorneys for the Fundamentalist LDS Church and some of its leaders reached an agreement with prosecutors over evidence that continues to be seized at the church's YFZ Ranch.

During a two-hour hearing, the attorneys agreed to sift through the evidence with the assistance of a "special master" — or unbiased third party — to determine what information collected at the ranch is pertinent to the case involving alleged sexual abuse and neglect of children.

"Anything that is seized will be sealed and separated," said Gerald Goldstein, attorney for the church and Lyle Jeffs, the brother of jailed FLDS president Warren Jeffs.

He had argued that there may be private material in seized computers and other records that could be subject to an attorney-client privilege. He also said other sacred things may have been taken that would not be of benefit to any investigation involving sexual and physical abuse.

"There's no reason to further intrude on these people's sacred books," Goldstein argued, referring to search warrant instructions authorizing authorities to seize all kinds of documents, books, computers and electronic storage devices.

"We ought to be able to (separate) those things that are sacred, have someone look at it and see if it has to do with sex abuse," he said.

Goldstein — joined by nine other attorneys in the Tom Green County Courthouse to the state's three attorneys — also complained to Judge Barbara Walther that authorities who have raided the ranch haven't told anyone what evidence they're finding.

It was Walther who authorized agents to search the ranch. She signed the first search warrant April 3, then authorized a second, more expansive search warrant April 6. She also authorized a civil action, ordering officers to remove all children from the church's ranch.

Most Utahns agreed with that decision, and nearly half of Utahns believe local law enforcement does not do enough to prosecute crime in polygamist communities, according to a poll conducted Tuesday and Wednesday by Dan Jones & Associates.

In a statewide poll of 314 people, 31 percent of Utahns said authorities were definitely justified in removing the children and another 31 percent believed the actions were probably justified; 13 percent of those polled believed the actions were probably not justified and 6 percent said they were definitely not justified. The poll has a 5.7 percent margin of error.

The poll also showed that 48 percent believe Utah officials do not do enough to prosecute crime inside polygamist communities, according to the poll. Only 7 percent said local law enforcement definitely does enough to prosecute and 30 percent believed they probably do enough.

Utahns appeared split on whether officials should prosecute polygamy without evidence of child abuse. Fifty percent said polygamy alone should not be prosecuted, while 41 percent believed it should.

In Texas, a third search warrant from a federal judge has since been signed, authorizing federal agents to search the ranch. Goldstein said the federal warrant is based on "evidence and information from information seized in these (first two) warrants."

The judge did not specify when the "return" listing the seized items should be made available.

Walther did determine Wednesday that parties of the FLDS Church, including Lyle Jeffs, Merrill Jessop and Isaac Jeffs, have legal "standing" to challenge the searches in court. Prosecutors argued that the men and the church had no such rights since there are no active criminal charges against them.

In a memorandum filed by FLDS attorneys, they argued that religious freedom rights had been violated when officers entered their sacred temple Saturday night. Attorneys said three men at the ranch were praying when officers "drug them out of the way to gain entry to the temple."

"Officers were also observed firing weapons into the woods on the northwest corner of the temple as they entered the temple gates" and made "forcible entry," the memorandum states. The attorneys also wrote that the officers didn't bother to see if children or adults were in the woods when they fired into the area.

After the hearing, FLDS attorneys declined to talk about the raid on the polygamist compound, despite dozens of reporters asking for the community's side of the story.

 
 

Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.