azfamily.com
May 26, 2008
http://www.azfamily.com/news/homepagetopstory/stories/Texas_polygamy_news_052608_jeffs-photos-media-.313f27b2.html
[with video and photos of Warren Jeffs with an alleged minor bride]
TEXAS - The Texas Supreme Court has been working through the holiday weekend determining the fate of hundreds of children removed from that polygamous compound in Texas.
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The court is considering an appeal from Child Protective Services after a Texas appeals court ruled last Thursday the children should be returned to their parents but that is not the only development taking place in Texas courts.
There has been some explosive evidence being presented in court. This extraordinary story is now being played out in various courts of law and in the court of public opinion where sympathy for the FLDS community and anger at the state of Texas seems to be the prevailing sentiment, with networks agreeing not to ask tough questions of FLDS members in order to get access. The following interview was provided to 3TV by CNN:
For weeks FLDS have complained that Texas officials had not right to seize more than 450 children from the ranch near ElDorado. Now that an appeals court has sided with the FLDS a dozen children, for the time being, have been renunited with their parents.
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The Jessops, one family who got their three young children back say the kids were hospitalized while in the state's care and that the entire incident has scarred their young ones. They also say they believe the raid was a form of religious persecution.
The allegations against the polygamist compound include multiple marriages and child brides. One of the condition's of CNN's interview with the couple they spoke to was that the Jessops, who are monogamous, not be asked about polygamy. Their attorney is Renee Haas. She said, "I see every indication that CPS wants to keep these children and I see every indication that they want to destroy the religion."
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State officials remain adamant that child abuse was prevalent at the ranch and that the children were removed from there for their own safety. The Jessops say that ordeal has made them a target of taunts. They say they want to live in private on the YFZ ranch but in the ever-changing ebbs and flows in the court of public opinion on this story one apparently damning piece of evidence was introduced in court by state officials late last week. It was a photo of FLDS polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs is reportedly marrying a 12-year-old girl that took place allegedly while Jeffs was on the run and on the FBI's most-wanted list.
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