In Memoriam, Barbara Jessop

Brooke Adams has the news:

From Twitter - "Barbara Jessop, whose husband Merril oversees the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Texas, passed away from a stroke today in Eldorado."

We all go through that door.

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New "Texas Monthly" FLDS Article (The "Sex Bed" is baaaaack...)

I've read through it. The article is incomplete and somewhat one sided. You might want to as well.

"Less apparent in the tranquil setting was a powerful undercurrent of joy: Merrianne Jessop had arrived the night before. There was no 'Welcome Home' banner, no party; such theatrics would have been out of character for these humble, quiet people. But the feeling was there all the same. 'Right now there seems to be a little bit of relief in the air,' said Willie Jessop, the unofficial FLDS spokesman (Jessop is a common surname in the FLDS), as he drove me around the 1,700-acre spread outside Eldorado. Merrianne, a spunky fifteen-year-old with red hair, was happy to be back with her family on the ranch. She was quick to joke, rolling her eyes every now and then for laughs, tossing her head as a light West Texas breeze ruffled her lavender prairie-style dress.

The past year had been an ordeal. In the spring of 2008, the ranch was raided, and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services had removed 437 children, including Merrianne, after a local domestic abuse hotline received a call from someone claiming to be a sixteen-year-old FLDS member. The caller’s report of underage marriage and sexual abuse triggered a massive investigation that led to an epic child custody battle, the largest in U.S. history. The Third Court of Appeals ruled that the removal of the children had been unwarranted, and a chastened DFPS returned the kids to the ranch, though the department continued to investigate the cases. Merrianne’s was the last to be settled.

Her mother, Barbara Jessop, and her new court-appointed guardian, Naomi Carlisle, who is also an FLDS member, seemed giddy as they looked at her. All three of them were confident that the Lord was on their side and that the state had had no right to intervene, never mind the mountains of evidence obtained during the investigation, some of which plainly showed that the FLDS had married young teenage girls to much older men. Never mind that the church’s prophet, Warren Steed Jeffs, was himself in prison for being an accomplice to the rape of a fourteen-year-old. Never mind that criminal charges, including sexual assault and bigamy, were still being brought against twelve men from the ranch. When asked about the upcoming trials, which start on October 26, Merrianne shrugged. 'The truth will prevail,' she said."

The Texas Monthly. There is this interesting allegation, for which I can find no basis in real evidence:

"A document that (Charles) Childress had not seen but was obtained by TEXAS MONTHLY appears to be instructions for the construction of a similar bed. It describes a bed 'covered with a sheet, but it will have a plastic cover to protect the mattress from what will happen on it.' It also described 'padded sides that can be pulled up that will hold me in place as the Lord does His work with me.' What in the world was going on here?"

I have never heard this allegation before, and if this document was found with the bed, why was it not entered into evidence? There is a serious matter implied here, and the even more serious question of why would evidence "obtained" by the Texas Monthly NOT be in the possession of the state?

There is this indictment of Governor Rick Perry:

"Childress wasn’t terribly impressed with the state leadership’s understanding of the situation. 'Going up to the governor, none of them had any idea what was going on,' he says. 'They had no clue.' As he worked through the cases, he says, all the department saw was numbers. ' "The department is losing two hundred some-odd cases!" That’s what was all in the news,' he says. Nonsuits were not 'losses,' a subtlety overlooked in most accounts. Having formed a clearer picture of family structures by way of DNA testing, the DFPS was identifying the individual circumstances of each family and coming up with specific tasks that needed to be done, such as psychological evaluations or parenting classes. By mid-September (last year), more than 250 children’s cases had been nonsuited."

The article seems to be written from the point of view of Mr. Childress. Charles also seems to reflect the attitude I have ascribed to Barbara Walther, and all those on the prosecution side of the issue. Just get this in front of a "West Texas Jury."

"As the months wore on, Childress went down to Austin to attend several meetings and explain his approach. One meeting included Albert Hawkins, the Health and Human Services commissioner; one included representatives from the attorney general’s and governor’s offices. Childress said he wanted to take some cases to trial. 'They’d ask, "Well, can you guarantee us it will win?" "No, there’s no such thing as a guarantee in a jury trial," I said, "but I’m pretty doggone certain that a West Texas jury hearing what all these people have been doing the last ten years is gonna be real reluctant to send these kids back to be raised by Warren Jeffs," ' Childress says. 'I didn’t get any feedback . . . I think they just frankly lacked the courage.'

And so, on October 23, Childress quit."

The article never touches on the evidence challenge. If it's lost, all the evidence Childress worries about is irrelevant from a legal standpoint and he has no cases. It sounds like Rick Perry seems to know that.

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More on Merrianne, Troubled "Visit" with strange family over.

She'll be home with family on Sunday.

The San Angelo Standard-Times - (Merrianne Jessop) will be released from foster care Sunday.

However, Court Appointed Special Advocates argued that the girl should stay in the custody of her San Antonio foster care family. She is the last of the children taken from the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado in April 2008 to be taken out of foster care.

CPS still will have regular visits with the girl and (Naomi) Carlisle. If all parties follow the safety plan laid out, then Carlisle will be granted full custody in September."

It's hard to say that there is a plan here, beyond getting Merrianne home. In a very small way it's a victory for Texas because it preserves the window dressing effect of claiming there was an "abused child." In addition, CPS can regularly visit (read SPY) on the FLDS and look for further "cause."

"During the hearing, CPS caseworker Ashley Kennedy said Jessop has been following all the guidelines in her visitations with the girl during the past two months. Before that, case workers had found text messages on an unauthorized cell phone and unauthorized letters Jessop passed to the girl during visits. Some of the notes seemed to direct the girl's behavior toward foster parents and the attorney.

However, there had been no issues since March 17, and the visits between the girl and Jessop had been going well, Kennedy said."

The press however, cannot resist falling for subtle state spin telling us that the visits between Barbara and her daughter had been "going well" as contrasted to previous visits. "Going well?" read that as Mom and Daughter may very well have been actively conspiring to mess up Texas plans for them and may well have succeeded. Merrianne was not having traumatic visits that upset her with her MOM, Merrianne was on a long visit with a family that deeply troubled and upset her. At some point they STOPPED bucking the system and either got their way partially as a result, or got their way and stopped bucking the system because they didn't need to anymore.

"The girl's attorney refused to answer questions after the trial but told the judge the girl told her she was "bursting at the seams" to live with Carlisle."

Clearly this is no "pro-mom because she's my mom" ambivalence. Merrianne wants to be with her mother. This is not an abused child that loves a flawed mother and chooses her because even children of abuse do that. There is no conflict here.

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The Jessop - CASA war

As I expected, the leaked report is at least partly true.

In the San Angelo Standard-Times story today it says;

"Jessop's attorneys have reviewed the CASA report and compared it to complete transcriptions of the text messages prepared by the Department," Malara and Pritchard said in a joint statement released Wednesday. "Jessop's attorneys do not believe the statements contained in the CASA report accurately reflect the actual text messages and were taken out of context."

So roughly, yeah, Barbara said that. I repeat, I don't blame them one whit. Some think it's shocking that a mother would tell her child to act up against authorities, but I don't. It's the time honored principle of a prisoner of war doing all they can to escape.

Again, I do not for a moment propose there is a gang out there in hoods and black face with ropes waiting to sneak over the wall and rescue her. She's not digging a tunnel but people, they are trying to "deprogram" her to turn her to state's evidence.

Texas tried to do that with Teresa Jeffs, it didn't work, and they discarded her. They're trying to do it again with Merrianne Jessop. I see this as the torture of a 14 year old. If she ever convinces Texas she won't give in, they'll give her up overnight. I still have the strong impression from the politics of this business, that Carmen Dusek said she couldn't be part of this.

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The Jessop's Wars, part deux!

Barbara Jessop responds to allegations of coaching her child.

Found at "The Plural Life."

"The report submitted to the Court by CASA was submitted to the press by an 'anonymous' source. Neither Barbara Jessop nor anyone acting on her behalf made the contents of this report public. The Department’s Attorney has advised Barbara Jessop's attorneys that neither she nor the department made the contents of the report public. Both the Department and Jessop are joining in the Motion to Seal the CASA report as neither side believes that this report should have been made public. The Motions are to be heard on Friday at the Tom Greene County Courthouse.

Any report prepared by CASA which involves the interest of a minor child should not be released to the press by an 'anonymous' source. The publication of this report is inappropriate.

Jessop’s attorneys have reviewed the CASA report and compared it to complete transcriptions of the text messages prepared by the Department. Jessop's attorneys do not believe the statements contained in the CASA report accurately reflect the actual text messages and were taken out of context. It is believed that CASA’s report was submitted to the Court several days prior to CASA actually receiving the telephone texts from DFPS.

Jessop's attorneys believe that CASA's recommendations are not supported by DFPS. They further believe that the recommendations are inappropriate, factually incorrect and heavy handed.

Jessop's attorneys intend to file a response to the report as well as several other motions addressing the issue.

They further request that the media refrain from publishing any further reports or discovery made in connection with this case so as to maintain the right of privacy of the individuals involved as well as ensure a fair trial for all parties.

Submitted by:

Attorneys for Barbara Jessop:

Valerie J. Malara and Brett Pritchard"

It would appear they're not denying all of the allegations which amount in my view to people fighting the good fight anyway. Someone was way out of line, and I am sure this is all connected to the resignation of Carmen Dusek.

There is more information on this story at The San Angelo Standard-Times;

The following motions have been filed and are expected to be taken up by Walther on Friday:

1. To seal a transcript of the deposition of ranch leader Merril Jessop, Barbara Jessop's husband, and the father of the 14-year-old girl.
2. To seal a transcript of the subsequent hearing over whether to compel Jessop's testimony.
3. To seal the CASA report.
4. To allow Carmen Dusek, the court-appointed attorney for the girl named in the CASA report, to withdraw from the case for "professional considerations."
5. To remove Denton attorney Natalie Malonis, who is representing a 17-year-old girl alleged to have been married at age 15 to one of the Jessops' adult sons. The girl has been dropped from the state's child-custody investigation, but Malonis is seeking child support and other financial considerations for the girl.

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Jessop's War. "I WANT MY MOTHER!" "GIVE ME MY DAUGHTER BACK!"

Barbara Jessop and her daughter, appear to playing hard ball, I can't say that I blame them. Strategy after all, says hit 'em while they're in disarray.

"A 14-year-old girl alleged to be a bride of Warren Jeffs received text messages while in state custody telling her to "please stay angry" and to "keep crying, pout, sleep in," according to a report filed by court-appointed guardians and obtained by the Standard-Times.

The report, filed by the girl's guardian ad litem, describes a series of text messages sent to the girl between Jan. 15 and Jan. 21 from a phone number labeled in the phone as 'POP.' It recommends that 51st District Judge Barbara Walther halt visitation between the girl and her mother, Barbara Jessop, and no longer allow any phone communication between the two."

Frankly, I'd tell her to stay angry and conduct a strike as well. It's the All American thing to do. Protest. Slow things down. Be difficult. After all, THEY KIDNAPPED YOU. THEY KIDNAPPED YOUR DAUGHTER.

Again, I could be wildly wrong and have a lot of crow to eat but I'm going with this not being a positive for Texas. Carmen Dusek doesn't quit in the middle of this if she sees Barbara and Merriane Jessop as wrong, she fights Barbara as an unfit influence.

But she didn't.

SHE QUIT.

Furthermore, someone leaked to Paul Anthony.

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Help me out, why did Merrianne go back into state custody?

I'm trying to figure this out.

The Deseret News - "A 14-year-old girl (Merrianne Jessop) from the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch ordered back into foster care may be reunited with her mother by next year.

That's according to a progress report recently compiled by Texas Child Protective Services and obtained Wednesday by the Deseret News. The report is being presented to a judge in San Angelo, Texas, handling the massive custody case involving children from the Utah-based polygamous sect. The girl's case is scheduled for a permanency hearing on Sept. 25."

They're allowing "unsupervised" phone contact between Merrianne and her mother.

" 'After this visit, it was discovered that (the girl) had at least 21 unsupervised phone calls with her mother in a period of one week,' the report said. 'Both presented as though they had been adhering to the monitored phone contact only. Many of the phone calls occurred in the middle of the night and some lasted in duration of longer than 30 minutes.' "

So Mom can talk to Merrianne, unsupervised in some sort of violation, and still they're going to "reunite" them next year, and mom is not cooperating with authorities.

"Barbara Jessop also is required to undergo psychological evaluations, attend parenting classes and have a social study. But caseworkers say no progress has been made."

Barbara pushes the envelope.

"Barbara Jessop first visited her daughter on Aug. 26. Since then, CPS caseworkers indicated Jessop has pushed the boundaries of her supervised visits, including bringing unapproved people with her and making unmonitored phone calls. The girl was not allowed to keep her cell phone while in foster placement, the CPS report said."

Why did they take Merrianne again? Nothing is changing. Mom is militantly resisting being "reformed," they allow Mom and daughter to talk, if only because of inadequate supervision or rebellion on the part of mother and daughter. Was this just an outburst of anger on the part of Texas and a practical example of "who's in charge here?" Or is Merrianne a hostage?

"The girl's father is YFZ Ranch leader Merril Jessop, who has been absent from custody hearings. He is believed to be under investigation in the ongoing criminal probe involving church members.

'Ms. Jessop has not provided any locating information on Mr. Jessop, although she has been asked on multiple occasions,' the report said."

It would seem that Merrianne is being held to extort information from her mother, regarding Merril.

The Salt Lake Tribune seems to thinks the reunification is NOT in the offing.

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