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	Teen Girl a Key Player in Criminal Case against Sect Associated Press, carried in Austin American-Statesman June 25, 2008 http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/25/0625flds.html SAN ANGELO — A teenage member of a polygamous sect says she's never been married and doesn't have a baby. She denies church elders are influencing her, and she wants to fire her lawyer. The 16-year-old daughter of jailed sect leader Warren Jeffs is a key player in court cases in West Texas this week as the state's case against members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints moves into criminal court. A grand jury will convene today in Schleicher County, where state child welfare officials seized more then 400 children from the Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado in April. They accused the sect of widespread sexual abuse of teen girls. The Texas Supreme Court forced the state to return the children from foster care two months later, saying the state overreached in taking all the children from the ranch when only a handful of girls may have been abused. Grand jury proceedings are secret, and the attorney general's office, which is handling the prosecution, has declined to comment. But a court filing shows that the girl was subpoenaed to appear today before the grand jury. The 16-year-old is fighting attempts by her attorney, Natalie Malonis, to finalize an emergency restraining order against a church elder. She also denies her lawyer's central claim making her an abuse victim: that she was spiritually married at 15 to an adult man and had a child at 16. "Natalie, quit all your lying about everything," the girl said in a letter to Malonis. Malonis has said she will not fight with her client through the media. Schleicher County Clerk Peggy Williams could not say what case the grand jury would be considering. But the sparsely populated county calls grand juries only about twice a year, and non-FLDS cases were handled several weeks ago. It's not clear what, or whether, criminal indictments of church members may result. Leaders of the church have consistently denied that there was any abuse and vowed earlier this month not to sanction underage marriages. Under Texas law, a girl younger than 17 generally cannot consent to sex with an adult. Bigamy, which is usually considered a crime of fraud, is also illegal in Texas, although FLDS plural marriages were spiritual and not sanctioned by the state. Any criminal prosecution on sex charges is likely to be difficult. The state has DNA material collected from most ranch residents to help them sort out family groups after the April 3 raid, and church officials fear the evidence could be used against them.
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