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	Restraining Order Extended in Polygamist Case By Paul A. Anthony Abilene Reporter News June 24, 2008 http://www.reporternews.com/news/2008/jun/24/restraining-order-extended-in-polygamist-case/ Walking tentatively down the hall of the Tom Green County Courthouse, the 16-year-old girl in a pastel prairie dress and intricate blond braid paused. Asked by a group of reporters whether she had anything to say, the girl — after six hours in court — seemed to be speaking for the dozens of attorneys and observers who had endured another twist-filled FLDS-related hearing. "What can I say," she replied, staring at the ceiling, "except that I'm sick of everything." Such was the general reaction Tuesday after a lengthy pair of hearings in what has become an increasingly intricate child-welfare case surrounding the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The state took custody of more than 400 sect children in a weeklong raid begun April 3 at the sect's Schleicher County ranch on suspicion of widespread sexual abuse, but ensuing court rulings required the state to return the children to their parents. Initially scheduled to determine whether 51st District Judge Barbara Walther would maintain a restraining order she had signed Friday, Tuesday's hearing morphed first into a question of whether Walther should recuse herself before returning to its original premise. Ultimately, attorneys agreed to extend by 90 days the restraining order, which requires the 16-year-old's mother, Annette Jeffs, to keep the daughter of sect leader Warren Jeffs away from sect elder and occasional spokesman Willie Jessop. The restraining order applies to the mother because Jessop is not otherwise involved in the girl's case. The agreement essentially leaves Friday's order unchanged, despite the long hours of legal posturing, and it clears the docket for today's meeting of the Schleicher County grand jury, which for the first time will hear evidence in the overall sect case beginning this morning. "It happened exactly like it should have — by the book," said Natalie Malonis, the girl's attorney, who had sought the restraining order after state investigators had been unable to serve the teen with a grand jury subpoena. "They were pulling out all the stops. ... There was some real weird stuff going on." The sect, which split decades ago from the mainstream Mormon church, practices a form of polygamy with spiritual unions that, when conducted between consenting adults, is acceptable under the law. Malonis alleges the girl was spiritually married at age 15 to an older man; the girl in letters, e-mails and interviews has denied being abused. The apparent split led attorneys for Annette Jeffs to file during Tuesday's hearing a motion to disqualify Malonis from the case, citing the girl's wishes expressed in a letter to Walther and e-mails to Malonis herself. "Central to the issue is the relationship" between Malonis and the girl, attorney Tim Edwards said, noting that the attorney contradicted her own client in her motion Friday. "That goes to the very heart of the problem the court is facing today." When Walther dismissed the motion as untimely, Edwards filed another, seeking Walther's removal from the case. The motion argued Walther had a perceived conflict of interest because extra security had been provided for her house in April based on dossiers naming Jessop as a possible threat to her. It slammed the proceedings to a halt as the court scrambled to find a judge to hear the motion. Midland-based state District Judge John Hyde, presiding via teleconference, rejected the motion, noting that Jeffs' attorneys had filed their motion too late — after the hearing had already begun. Almost immediately after resuming the restraining-order hearing, however, proceedings stopped again, as Malonis sought to introduce evidence she wanted sealed from the public. Walther dismissed the courtroom to review the documents with the case's attorneys, commencing a two-hour wait during which the judge admonished them to reach an agreement. "Sometimes that just happens," Edwards said of the sudden agreement after more than a day of failed negotiations. "Sometimes people decide to stay and talk, and sometimes an agreement results from that." Along with having "strongly encouraged" the sides to reach an agreement at that time, Malonis said, Walther was "very clear" that the motion to disqualify Malonis is "off the table." Malonis had argued in her Friday court filing that Jessop was directing her client to be uncooperative, avoid the grand jury subpoena and write the letter to Walther asking that Malonis be removed. In response, sect officials and spokespeople have criticized Malonis as pursuing a personal agenda at the expense of her client, whose wishes they say she no longer represents. Jessop "has done absolutely nothing wrong," said Salt Lake City attorney Jim Bradshaw, who represents sect members in the case. "At great personal sacrifice, he's come down here to help the residents of the YFZ Ranch. There's nothing that he's done that is inappropriate or unethical." The agreement sets another hearing in the matter for no later than Sept. 24, when the restraining order will again be reviewed. Until then, focus will shift 45 miles to the south, where 12 grand jurors meet this morning. Tuesday's participants are probably grateful for the reprieve. "It was the weirdest (hearing) I've ever been involved in," Malonis said. Contact: panthony@gosanangelo.com
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