Verdict Soon on Abram Harker Jeffs? Yes, after a short Deliberation.

Typically, it didn't take long, and he's been convicted of Bigamy I hear.

The Defense was spirited by comparison to previous trials, but not enough. I believe the FLDS needs to be pushing the concept publicly of Jury Nullification, but they're not. In addition, the short defense presentations amount to an admission of guilt in terms of perception. Here's last night's San Angelo Standard-Times article:

" 'You’ve heard all the evidence you’re going to hear' for the guilt or innocence phase of the trial, 51st District Judge Barbara Walther told jurors before dismissing them for Monday evening.

Jurors looked at documents sacred to the FLDS throughout Monday afternoon as the prosecution tried to place Jeffs and the alleged victim at the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Schleicher County at the time of the alleged offense.

The alleged assault of the 15-year-old girl when he was 34 allegedly occurred around May 12, 2006.

'I think this is the first time the jury has laid eyes on a priesthood record,' lead Prosecutor Eric Nichols told Texas Ranger Danny Crawford while Crawford was on the stand testifying to what each document was and what it said as the redacted documents were projected onto a screen for the jury."

Actually, copies of the Priesthood Records got out, and Eric knows that. Perhaps presenting them here is now a way to say that people have them now, because he used them in Trial. Right Eric.

To his credit, Brandon Hudson took a few jabs at the evidence in trial, and the fact that some witnesses are being paid. We can be sure we don't know the full extent of the payment issues between Texas and it's various "experts."

Sentencing is next. I imagine that will not take long either. The Bigamy conviction provides a platform for appeal of the length Abram's sentence, if it long, like the others. There will be appeals on the bigamy convictions on their constitutionality. Perhaps after sentences are adjusted, the convictions will be overturned just in time for a "timely" parole based on the average sentence of other "First Time" offenders.

My current thought is that after the heat dies down and FLDS men have spent some time in jail, there will eventually be a reversal of the evidence inclusion. My hope is that it's sooner than that.

Willie Jessop weights in today's edition of the Times:

"FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop said afterward he believed the state at last publicly has made the case a religious matter.

'For the first time, they’ve admitted it’s about religion,' Jessop said.

Jessop also stressed deprivation of rights, in the raid and in the trial, as an issue of prime concern.

'Disregard your first, fourth, fifth and sixth amendment rights, and anyone is in danger,' Jessop said. 'We need to have judicial notice of what’s happening.' "

This case, if not reversed, as I have stated for over two years, is a danger to us all. The only victims at YFZ in the eyes of the law are technically victims, there was and still is no "outcry," there are no defections from "Stockholm Syndrome" sufferers suddenly "waking up." The supposed "Victims" are now all adults. Those underage "supposed" victims whose "assailants" have not yet been convicted will be adults soon. I think there's only one anyway, and it may be proved she was not a victim.

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Two Years Later, all that is left, is misinformation

Betty Jessop

The condition of journalism today, is largely a reflection of the condition of our own minds. Logic applied to this ABC News analysis would cost the writers their jobs, but it doesn't, because we have long since ceased to apply logic, as a society:

"Former members of the polygamist sect that was raided two years ago say they are encouraged by tough sentences handed down by courts in recent months, but said that the secretive group is as a strong as ever."

In one sentence, there is an internal contradiction that will be repeated in this story. Perhaps the writer is a fan of "synthesis," thinking we arrive at truth by merging contradictions. If so, the writer is so fuzzy on that blurry concept that they have lost track of even that distorted view of the truth.

How are you encouraged by "strong sentences" if they are not breaking the will of your enemy, but instead, seemingly, making them stronger? In addition, in a theme repeated by the hateful "Antis," the human sacrifice of example must be applied to an undeserving victim to advance their agenda.

Think.

If the sentences are extraordinarily harsh, and out of proportion with sentences handed down to other "sex offenders," then we have demanded of the "offender" that they pay more than they ought, for the sake of an agenda being advanced. We might as well throw someone into a volcano to appease some "god."

If the sentences are NOT extraordinarily harsh, then the hatred of the "Antis" is revealed again, because they cannot focus on the greater damage to society occurring every day with other sex offenders flying under the radar while former FLDS members revel and rejoice while their own special focuses of vitriol are roasted alive. The rest of the world and it's children can go to hell while they sit back and bask in the glowing fire of their enemies suffering.

"So far, four of the 12 members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who were accused of child abuse have been convicted and sentenced to prison.

'These convictions are a really big deal. They're game changers and it's significant,' said Carolyn Jessop, who escaped from the FLDS sect in Colorado City, Ariz., seven years ago."

What, is this a book deal promotion? Carolyn Jessop "escaped?" Are we just reminding people what the title of her book is? Many people have "escaped" from the FLDS, as many as want to. "Escape" is a connotation laden word implying imprisonment, making a break for it, and "Getting Away" from pursuers.

The evidence says you can "walk away" from the FLDS, anytime you want to. The author of the story neglects to mention that Carolyn's own daughter Betty "escaped" from her and went back to FLDS.

" '(T)here is still a side to the FLDS that thinks they are invincible and that these trials are a joke and that if a few men go to prison for the cause, the group will still be fine,' said Jessop. The group burst into the national spotlight after the April 3, 2008 raid of the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas. People were stunned not only by the charges of polygamy and child brides, but because of the pastel prairie clothes, braided hairstyles and submissive attitude of the ranch's women."

One is tempted to simply allow their brain to leap out of their skull and start smashing itself into whatever wall there is available.

There is "Still a SIDE to the FLDS?" Um, Carolyn, how about "the whole group?" Pretty much it seems the "side" she speaks of is the vast majority of the FLDS. She seems to imply here that the FLDS is a divided group with a faction holding sway, when outward evidence suggests that the "factions" of the FLDS consist of a small rebellious minority that regularly leaves the group and then is stunned when no one follows, such as Carolyn, Elissa and Flora. By using these terms, and also having the writer repeat them without modification or observation of any kind, the writer is not being a reporter, but an advocate, mouthpiece and publicist for the "side" of the FLDS that pretty much isn't FLDS any longer.

Carolyn and the writer imply strongly that there is a "side" within the group still, that longs to be as she is. Except, in two years none of those "rescued" that needed to "escape" from the ranch, have taken advantage of their opportunity to "escape." They have in fact fought tooth and nail, to get back, like her own daughter Betty.

"Carolyn Jessop characterizes the recent 75-year prison sentence as 'unbelievable,' saying that the FLDS has believed for generations 'that they live above the law.' Even so, she says that unless the veil of secrecy that has long overshadowed the sect is lifted, the group will continue to thrive.

'If these men go to prison and don't say anything, [their convictions] might not have any impact on the group,' she said. 'The only way I can see it having a profound impact is if someone is willing to talk for a reduced sentence.' "

And here Carolyn's hateful motivations and immorality are made clear. She's part of a group that wishes to use long prison sentences to extort information from the convicted.

"Keep Convicting Them," she is saying, "Keep Sentencing Them to LIFELONG TORMENT (until someone talks)."

I hate to break it to Carolyn, but if you truly believe that the Path to Heaven and Place in the Afterlife is along the lines that the FLDS believe it to be, this would be the equivalent of selling your soul for Raymond, Merril Allen Keate or Michael Emack. Would you indeed trade your immortal soul for relief in this life? 35 or less of your remaining years on this earth, for an eternity in Torment?

"[The sect] depends on secrecy," she said. "The minute the secrecy is taken away, then the crimes will have to be prosecuted."

"These men know what is going on at that ranch and in the entire community and they've witnessed the worst," she added.

Carolyn Jessop

Yup, that's it. They're the Nazi's that imprison her people who long to be let go from their concentration camp. They should be subjected to increasing torments, until someone confesses.

What's next Carolyn? Do you want to send them all to some CIA torture camp outside the country to be waterboarded until they give it up?

"Mary Mackert, another former FLDS member who left the group and her six sister wives in 1984, agrees with Carolyn Jessop, and says that while the news of the convictions 'makes her smile,' she said there is much more to be done."

If you doubted me, simply read the above again. Mary Mackert "agrees" with Carolyn Jessop. What is her attitude? The extraordinary punishments of the FLDS members convicted so far "make her smile."

For them, the ends justify the means:

"Both Mackert and Jessop said the investigation of the Yearning For Zion Ranch in 2008 was successful in that it brought light to the crimes the members allegedly commit, but said it failed in terms of the children."

And for the FLDS? I have a point to make, when you don't tell your side of the story loudly enough, the revisionism takes full hold, and today's writers, who don't research their stories, repeat lies:

"In the days following the raid, 439 children were taken from their parents and put into foster care, running up a tab for the state of Texas that exceeded $12 million in just 2009. Legal fees since then have not been calculated. All but one child has since been returned to the ranch."

This gives the impression that Texas still holds Merrianne Jessop.

"It broke my heart to see the judge turn those children back," said Mackert.

I suppose we should care about Mary's heart, far away in Idaho, about kids that aren't hers, as opposed to the parent's hearts, in Texas, with relation to kids that ARE theirs. To say nothing of the kids themselves.

And now, another one of those contradiction laden passages:

"Jessop also questioned why the children were returned.

'When the state went in and took the kids, I thought once they interfered they had an obligation to follow through. They had an obligation and not just put the kids back in it and close their eyes. That to me was completely betrayal for these children,' she said.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services declined to comment for this story. In previous media accounts, the agency has defended the raid and has said they would do it again if they received more reports of child abuse. The children were returned to the ranch due to a lack of evidence of abuse to those children.

'Because the state dropped the ball on the kids, the FLDS community was very much strengthened because inside, they feel like the sky is the limit and they're untouchable,' said Carolyn Jessop, who still communicates with sect members, including family members."

The state defends the raid, Carolyn thinks they dropped the ball, but the CHILDREN were returned because there was a LACK of EVIDENCE of ABUSE to those children.

Carolyn is again held up as some sort of expert on internal FLDS workings, and the state has listened to her with regard to what happens there, and given her almost all she wishes in terms of pressure applied the FLDS, and they haven't cracked.

Wise up Carolyn, you said it yourself: "The FLDS community is very much strengthened." Wait for it though, she's not through contradicting herself.

"(Mary and Carolyn) say that while they will never stop talking about their own experiences, current FDLS members are the ones that really have the power to end what they call a life of 'emotional and physical torture.'

'The people at the top [in the sect] are nervous,' said Jessop. 'They don't admit it to a lot of people, but they are.'

'How could they not be nervous?' echoed Mackert. 'It's becoming a reality that they could spend the rest of their lives behind bars.' "

Yup, the emotional abuse and torture Carolyn's own daughter couldn't wait to subject herself to again. The emotional abuse and torture that Mary and Carolyn seemed trapped in for the rest of their own lives.

Get over it gals.

It's over. I have an ex. I lost everything. Kids and all. I don't spend any more time than is absolutely necessary thinking about her. It only hurts me and if I'm really unlucky, everyone around me when I can't zip my lip about it. Don't be such losers.

In my experience, a good deal of ex wives are like suicides. They leave a marriage, they kill it, and then they hang around to see if their ex, got the message. Finally.

"Think I'm gonna kill myself, cause a little suicide, stick around for a couple of days, what a scandal if I died.

Yeah, I'm gonna kill myself, get a little headline news. I'd like to see what the papers say..." (Bernie Taupin)

Unfortunately, for those of us left behind, the ghosts of divorce are all too real. Carolyn and Mary still want the attention, and are going to hairlip the devil to get it.

It is also true that Mary and Carolyn seem to be engaging in a little wishful thinking. The leaders are "nervous." Of course, she has no actual communication with them to know this, but, they're nervous. Aren't they? They'd have to be. Wouldn't they?

Stunningly, or perhaps really not so stunningly, the "unpersoning" (damnatio memoriae) of Rozita Swinton is now complete. In not one place in this story is she mentioned. In the popular retelling we'll just keep applying a little makeup to that "unsightly area" until it is gone altogether.

Rozita Swinton, Babysitting, Thanksgiving 2008, Burley ID

I did do the follow up on Rozita's Douglas County probation violation. Her probation officer was persuaded to not file a report against her, alleging violation of her previous conviction's terms of probation in Douglas County. She was "granted a new trial," the charges were dropped, and the whole matter went away.

Just like David Foley said it would happen. Except he left out a few nasty details, like she'd been convicted before, and than some major arm twisting went on to get the new trial, dropped charge and eventual vaporizing of Rozita's previous crime to that of the El Paso county conviction.

David Foley has also said that Texas has agreed to drop the charges against Rozita. I believe him even though Texas denies it.

But Carolyn and Mary hang around. Rozita and the real causes behind YFZ fade into the sunset and diminish. And ABC news retells the story, until we get it "right."

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The Colorado Long Shot

Which could be called the Musser/Long/Doran/Flora/Whoever longshot as well.

Witnesses hostile to the FLDS such as Rebecca Musser could very well provide evidence for the defense. Musser is supposed to have testified in Las Vegas on the last day of September. I haven't heard whether she did actually testify, or not. I always assume that hostile witnesses are communicating amongst themselves and it's probably no accident that Musser succeeded in putting off her time before the defense until two days before Walther ruled on the evidence. Assuming Musser was provided with a transcript of her testimony, or even if she simply has a good memory, she could have been "debriefed" and the prosecution (Walther et al) could have decided nothing earth shattering was given to Piccarreta and company.

Pre Trial hearing.

Motion to Suppress denied.

Rules as to what will be admitted as evidence are as far as I can tell, "rules of the court" for trial purposes.

Bottom line?

They cannot be appealed prior to the completion of the trial. The reasoning behind this long standing rule of jurisprudence (assuming I have it right) is that you're not harmed if the evidence included fails to result in your conviction. In a sense, so what if it was illegally obtained and you go free? No harm, no foul. Only in the case that you are convicted would a higher court be interested in the evidence rules used in a lower court.

It has been my opinion all along that what Walther has wanted to do in the trials, is expose the media, the potential jury pool and potential appeals judges to all the negative publicity possible, all the salacious details, and put a 40+ year old man in front of an appeals court, convicted of a crime involving pedophilia, and say "There, reverse that."

Of course, I have hoped, and at one time I was actually marginally hopeful that Walther would back away from the case, but she didn't. I have never been in any sort of delusional state about what her game plan has been since the get go.

Of the girls/women supposedly molested or in danger of being molested by the FLDS men in question, only Merrianne Jessop is in theoretical need of protection from her informal husband, that being Warren Jeffs. Warren, for the time being at least, is safely tucked behind bars, and he can't get at Merrianne, for now. Even if the tide begins to turn wildly in favor of the FLDS, the prospects of him being sprung in the next 2 and a half to 3 years is pretty small, so we can consider her safe if we are worried about actual adults molesting actual children by the definitions of law. It's not going to happen unless Merrianne is "unfaithful."

The rest of the defendants are "married" or consorting with women now, all of whom are of age, and none of whom wish to escape their "brainwashing." The primary reason their unofficial husbands are being prosecuted is that those husbands seem to have children with those women. Those women certainly have children with somebody. I have little doubt that the men charged are in fact the fathers. The state is attempting to break up a father and his child, separate the mother from the father, and destroy the family unit to make a point that is essentially, "we don't like the FLDS" because until the FLDS showed up, the laws in Texas were actually a bit friendly towards the practices of the FLDS, which was one of the reasons Warren set up shop there.

This also brings up the question of the difference between a real pedophile, in terms of psychological makeup, and a technical pedophile, namely the sort that these men will be, if they are convicted.

"According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), pedophilia is specified as a form of paraphilia in which a person either has acted on intense sexual urges towards children, or experiences recurrent sexual urges towards and fantasies about children that cause distress or interpersonal difficulty." - (Wikipedia)

I contend that based on their other patterns of behavior, and fertility with women of greater age, that you couldn't call this the difficulty of most of the defendants. You could only say that they fit the legal definition.

"In law enforcement, the term 'pedophile' is generally used to describe those accused or convicted of the sexual abuse of a minor (including both prepubescent children and adolescent minors younger than the local age of consent)." - Wikipedia

What I am doing here, in a sort of eliptical way, is leading up to a point about what is, and what is not going on here. We're dealing with people who will be legally classified as pedophiles, not people who are predisposed to a disorder (for which there is no treatment) that is refered to as pedophilia. The equivocation that follows this case around, in the press and in the publicity generated by the prosecution, confuses. It is meant to. It is meant to put pressure on the public conciousness to keep slavering drooling cruel old men off the young virginal bodies of girls, who have no brains, no volition and no ability to resist their organized plundering of those girls sexual bounty.

I word it that way because I am convinced that part of the "horror" surrounding the case is actually a vicarious thrill and a sort of perverse jealousy that may indeed be more akin to the medical definition of pedophilia that we are supposed to believe is present in the FLDS. We want to see pictures of the young girls kissing Warren, with their faces blanked out. We want to see pictures of his daughter, Teresa Jeffs, young, attractive, spunky. Because WE want them. I say "we" but I think the difficulty is largely with FLDS haters, not me for instance. I consider Teresa Jeffs a beautiful strong willed young woman, and another man's wife, and of another faith, and have no interest in her for the reasons of prior claim (marriage) and faith. Same goes for Merrianne Jessop.

The above discourse I think describes the set stage for the trials. For the FLDS to win, they must win by "not guilty" verdict, which may flow from "jury nullification" or win on appeal which will be performed under the pressure of equivocating technical legal pedophilia with the actual sexual predilection. Remember though, it will be a lot harder to turn a well publicized "pedophile" loose, even by right application of the law, than it was to turn children back to their mothers.

US Law.com - "Late last year, a California Appellate Court ruled that a Defendant was not entitled to a new hearing on a suppression motion at the retrial, unless the defendants could present additional evidence that would justify a different ruling. A court will not question the discretion of another magistrate, or their position on the credibility of witnesses or evidence that was presented at a suppression hearing. If a magistrate has already heard your case, and ruled against you, it’s generally a closed issue.

However, in some cases you may be able to bring a second suppression motion if it is based on 'newly discovered evidence.'

To be considered newly discovered evidence, you and your criminal appeals lawyer will have to show that at the time of the original hearing, the defense was unaware of this new evidence. If you can convince the judge on this point, then the judge has the legal discretion to permit you a new hearing.

USA vs Hassan Karim Muhammad - "However, '[i]f new facts come to light at trial, the trial judge in the exercise of his discretion may consider anew the suppression issue.' Id. In United States v. Simms..."

New evidence is what will ultimately (I think) be the best chance of early freedom for the FLDS men on trial. The best chance for their wives to be reunited with their husbands, the best chance for their children to have contact, with their fathers.

That new evidence may come from depostions of Sam Brower, or Rebecca Musser or others, or perhaps revelations about Rozita Swinton and her associates. There are a lot of questions still out there about Rozita, how she has managed to travel around the country, access expensive out of state medical care and even exist for the past year and a half. There are now a lot of questions about what she's been doing for the last 15 years of her life, and if it involved a close association with a local Law Enforcment agency, that may be shown to have protected her.

The above two quotes show that the evidence question can be reopened with new evidence. I hope that what I have investigated and found, mostly in the last two weeks, and all the way back to January of this year, will prove useful to the defense. If it is shown that there was some sort of protection of Rozita, a sort of negligent encouragement of her bad behavior, or even perhaps a contracting with her to produce a "cry for help" then the game may be changed. Almost certainly it will be in the case of an intentional manufactured "cry for help."

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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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Last FLDS Child Custody Case officially ENDS

Merrianne Jessop is no longer under court supervision, though officially she has not been "returned" to her mother.

KSL - "The battle for children from the Utah-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' ranch in Eldorado, Texas, was over Thursday when a judge signed an order effectively ended court oversight of a 15-year-old girl. She was the last of the 439 children taken into state protective custody when Texas child welfare authorities raided the ranch last year.

'The court has stated that they will no longer continue to review the placement, progress and welfare of the child,' said Valerie Malara, a lawyer representing the girl's mother, Barbara Jessop. 'The attorney ad litem is dismissed out of the case, CASA's dismissed out of the case, and the state is out of the case as well.'

The order, signed (today) by 51st District Judge Barbara Walther, places the girl in the custody of her aunt. Her parents, YFZ Ranch leader Merril Jessop and Barbara Jessop, will have visitation. The aunt, Naomi Carlisle, can determine how much that will be."

This really means she is back with her family. Is this another tremor before the quake? The last shaky appearance of there being any danger to children, and thus any cause is being swept away, the day before it is rumored that Barbara Walther will rule on the "Motion to Suppress."

Since it is clear now that NO CHILD was in danger on the Ranch, ever, and there was no "cry for help" and "no danger" at the time of the raid, how can it be that anyone supposes the evidence seized under that pretense could stay in the possession of Texas?

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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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That's gonna leave a mark, Bill Medvecky Scoops 'em again.

Merrianne Jessop is going home leaving foster care going to be with family. Bill is right again.

The Salt Lake Tribune - "Texas Judge Barbara Walther approved a plan that allows the 14-year-old girl to live with Naomi Carlisle, an FLDS member and a distant relative who moved to San Antonio from Utah last year to help families affected by the raid.

'We're absolutely elated, and we feel like this has been an answer to prayers,' said Willie Jessop, a spokesman for the polygamous sect."

Losers.

"The Court Appointed Special Advocates, or CASA, opposed the relative placement and asked Walther to keep the girl in foster care.

"Our largest concern was [Carlisle] has a 15- and a 17-year -old son in Utah and she has left them there and come out here to raise someone else's daughter," said Debra Brown, executive director. "CASA thought that was a little weird. And it just felt like with the track record and problems we've had on visitation we would have felt she was safer in foster care."

A CASA volunteer had been visiting with the girl about once a month but Walther asked them to meet with her more regularly, Brown said."

Balderdash.

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Merrianne Jessop to continue role as sacrificial lamb

Apparently, everyone, the public included is willing to pretend the raid warrant was always for catching child molesters.

How quickly the mission statement changes, or is revealed to be what it always was. As part of the legal window dressing though, Texas needs to keep alive the idea that someone was being abused at YFZ. That's going to be Merrianne Jessop.

The Deseret News - "Family and Protective Services Commissioner Anne Heilingenstein said during a legislative hearing on Tuesday that Child Protective Services would seek permanent custody of the girl because efforts to reunite her with her parents have failed."

Remember, this is all coded CPS "Newspeak" that has words being used that sound as if an effort was made to get Merrianne back home, when in reality, the effort was to extort someone into testifying and to emotionally abuse the Jessops and Jeffs, both child and adult alike until someone "cooperates." If no one cooperates then Merrianne will never be returned.

She wouldn't be returned anyway since doubtless the things Texas wishes the Jessops to admit to would make Texas the monster, if they returned Merrianne. This is the classic kidnapping drama where you pay the ransom, or the child is killed (in this case kept). The problem is, the child will be kept if the Jessops cooperate, and even if they don't. This is where hoax caller Rozita Swinton comes into the story again.

Remember, the legal impact of releasing the last child, who had to be taken back in the first place, will be that Texas will have no pretext for the raid. As long as they pretend they can't "investigate" Ms. Swinton and as long keep Merrianne, there was an abuse, and there was a report of that abuse. No matter how ridiculous the rationalizations may get, Texas will hold onto both. The investigation of Rozita and the custody of Merrianne.

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UPDATED Willie is testifying. Physically THREATENED by Texas representative.

It is getting ugly, one representative (Hildebran, I think) Drew Darby suggested they would "Come to blows." Willie has made the interesting assertion that he has doubtless researched, that the youngest age allowable for marriage with judicial consent in Texas is THREE. The next witness, Judge Scott McCowan confirmed this is so. That seemed to shut things down, as no one on the panel knew that. The chairman is apparently declaring that he doesn't believe that Willie doesn't know certain facts, but they're asking him for hearsay. They have decided to swear Willie in. Willie is being confronted with the well known pictures of Warren Jeffs with Merrianne Jessop. Here's the link.

Texas. Stream 7. Willie was asked if he knows of underage marriage and he said he doesn't live there.

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Brooke Adams "outs" her own bias.

Ever wonder what reporters really think of the FLDS/YFZ story? Brooke Adams of the Salt Lake Tribune, slips up (?) and tells us.

The Plural Life - "Those early official claims — which included unsubstantiated allegations of sexual abuse of boys and broken bones due to abuse, which DFPS acknowledged yesterday were unfounded — were unfortunate since they clouded the real discovery that the sect had spiritually married girls as young as 12 to older men."

Even though no trial has been held, and they have not been convicted. It's obvious isn't it? There is no hint of objectivity on Ms. Adams part. "The REAL discovery" (not the alleged discovery) is that older men were married to girls as young as 12 even though it couldn't have been known without real abuse of power. All the while every reporter is careful to hedge their bets acting as if they don't know Rozita was the caller, and without saying as I do, that "there is no Sarah, you morons."

I'm not disputing that FLDS men may be actually doing a good portion of what is alleged. Not in the slightest. I do think that there remains a strong, strong possibility that the youngest of the girls was in a "betrothal." The confusion there for the rest of society is that they don't understand that Biblical Betrothal was in essence, marriage. Marriage without sex, and a state that required divorce to sunder. Merrianne Jessop may well be in such an arrangement with Warren Jeffs.

To Brooke the ends justify the means. On the scale of heinous acts that humanity can commit, even more heinous it would seem than the genocide carried out by the various state and federal government agencies arrayed against the FLDS is "child abuse" as defined by those agencies.

Ms. Adams. The REAL story is the flagrant disregard for OUR rights, the rights of the FLDS, your rights Ms. Adams and my rights, that the state exhibited when invading YFZ. Such informal precedents are dangerously real. They redefine words in our minds. "Justified" takes on new meaning. "Probable cause" deteriorates into any trumped up reason to search a home or business that results in a "find."

The real story in fact is how a woman, so TOWERINGLY stupid as Rozita Swinton, perpetrated a hoax on Texas so that they went on her story alone into YFZ with guns drawn. Does Ms. Adams think, for real, that the REAL discovery is that older men have sex with young girls? Does she HONESTLY think SHE JUST DISCOVERED this?

I have followed the Story of Rozita for almost a year now in a fashion that can only be described as obsessive by those watching me. The more I learn about her, the more I am amazed ANYONE believed her. She can't SPELL. She is a narcissistic sociopath (IMHO). She lies CONSTANTLY. She thinks she's part of some gigantic cause. Those that she thinks are her friends, her longtime associations, often don't even know who she is as she stalks them under multiple internet identities. She has pretended to be a HIGH SCHOOL student in Colorado Springs and pulled it off apparently, with those students, long after she graduated. Her opportunistic literary whore of a foster parent, Mary Catharine Nelson tried to hawk her miserable vanity press books by pointing to the good fortune that had her mention Rozita's name twice in both books. I READ one of them and found that Rozita was regularly cut OUT of the frame of the "Rev." Nelson's illustrations, because she was so UNIMPORTANT.

Yet she was believed. She now wanders around the country, going to Hospitals as a patient, visiting apparent real friends in Idaho, blogging incomprehensibly, sometimes about my "obsession" with her (no, it's an obsession with injustice, she's just there) and not having the good sense to realize that the "Hugh McBryde" who has been pursuing her, that she blogs about, is the same "Hugh McBryde" contacting her on one of her social networking accounts.

After a year of using my limited tools to find things out about Rozita, in the hope of showing how the raid was bogus, it's proven. I haven't found someone that anyone could believe. To perpetrate the Hoax, Rozita would have to have been someone else, someone she demonstrably, is not. Unless it is shown that she has real "other personalities," some of which are actually intelligent, no one can convince me that this dim Medusa has any power beyond the ability reveal people's minds, are already stone.

That's the real story. The real story is that our rights are trampled while Brooke, and virtually every member of the press deliberately ignores the fact that if you KNEW Rozita, you'd know Texas is lying. God forbid that they tell that story. The story of Texas believing what they want to believe and tossing away the rights of every man, woman and child in this country.

For most of the last 9 months, I have uncovered fact after fact after fact. I have dutifully reported on them. I have occasionally been wrong. I have put the facts in front of the people who cover them time after time. I have sometimes offered the story to reporters prior to publishing it myself. I have let others take credit for my own research, some of which those following the story have read under other people's bylines.

The REAL STORY is not that Older Men took younger girls, that does not threaten us all. What threatens us all is that an unbelievable woman was used to trump up charges and trample rights. That harms us all. The next story is that the press, entrusted with the freedoms that preserve all other freedoms, won't report that story, instead, leering and trying to catch a glimpse of old men and young girls to sell newspapers that are as bankrupt as their principles.

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Merrianne Jessop to be returned, UPDATED, Texas has no clothes.

How can Texas maintain they "saw abuse" at the ranch when they didn't given any names in the second warrant (update, specifically, the affidavit of Ruby Gutierrez) UPDATED, per the Salt Lake Tribune, the hearing to place Merrianne will come in May.

In a filing in a San Angelo, Texas, court, CPS lawyers are now seeking to have the girl removed from foster care and placed with a relative. In a filing obtained by the Deseret News on Thursday, CPS said that it still has a goal of reuniting the girl with her mother, Barbara Jessop, but asks to continue as temporary 'sole managing conservator of the child.'

CPS conducted a home study on the woman, 51, who is a second cousin once removed, and moved to Texas from Utah.

'She indicated that since she had provided placement for other children involved in the YFZ Ranch case and was able to cooperate with CPS, she felt that she would be able to assist in the care of (the girl),' CPS caseworker Ashley Kennedy wrote in a report filed with the court."

This is the state of Texas hanging on by it's fingernails. Clearly a good deal is going on behind the scenes that we don't see.

Getting back to that second warrant (affidavit of Ruby Gutierrez), empty of names. Teresa Steed was the only child that could have been listed as abused and listed in some way, in the warrant affidavit, that gave Texas continuing cause. I suspect strongly that the unsealing of the warrant affidavit is related to the release of Teresa. Imagine a conversation in which it is stated that Texas had no cause to have Ms. Steed under suit in the first place. Texas claims "She's PREGNANT, that's our CAUSE" and lawyers for Ms. Steed and the FLDS say "Show me where you saw that, if you have her under suit as a result of discovering her in the second search, then it was none of your business, if you have her identified in the second sealed warrant and it's affidavit, well, then, you got us."

Teresa Steed is not identified in any way shape or form in the second warrant affidavit, and for that matter, no one is. Some kid(s) (number and names unknown) are malnourished. Some kid(s) are poorly educated. Some kid(s) believe it's OK to marry young. Some kid(s) are pregnant.

No one is named. No one is described. There isn't even an attempt to do so.

What we have here is a failure to see anything, and being at YFZ for no reason. There is no Sarah. There is no Dale Barlow (at least in Texas), there is nothing seen at all while Texas wanders about YFZ looking for evidence. Texas panics further and starts busting down doors and breaking things and running off with computers, books, Bibles and Books of Mormon to save their butts.

At this point, if they can't find anything they are exposed. Well, now they are exposed.

Merrianne Jessop was not malnourished, pregnant or illiterate. She is either married in fact, or betrothed to Warren Jeffs and Warren was in jail, far from YFZ.

They have NOTHING.

There is a rumor that they are trying to place a child not legally a citizen of the country at the time of the raid, under suit. That would be the child Teresa Steed was pregnant with at the time of the raid. That's truly strange.

Unless there is a birth certificate somewhere (entirely possible) in the United States, it may very well be that Teresa Steed's child, is not even a citizen of this country. Or at least, that's possible.

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Ok, so it's two Teenage Girls.

I've been hearing a lot lately, and getting a lot wrong, and some of it right, and then wrong again about just exactly WHO it is, that is still under CPS scrutiny. Finally, the official story. I have the number right.

And the "Who" half right.

"The massive child custody case has dwindled to only two children who remain under court oversight. One is a 14-year-old girl authorities allege was married at age 12 to FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. The other is a girl state authorities claim was married at 14 and gave birth to a boy at 16. (She is 17 now.)

Texas CPS officials confirmed to the Deseret News on Tuesday that aside from the two cases still pending, the remaining families are no longer required to attend classes, counseling or be followed up on by caseworkers.

'We worked closely with all of the families, through the services we offered and through the work and monitoring by our caseworkers, to ensure that the children were safe and protected,' agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins said. 'With the exception of two children, CPS is now out of these cases entirely.' "

Of course, that's Patrick Crimmins, and he's fibbed in sincere sounding fashion to me before so there would still be a grain of salt to apply, but I think we can rely on his statement here. He would be too easily found out by a prominent press outlet.

So we learn several things. It is a nearly 18 year old girl, the mother not of a girl, but a boy, that is still subject to a CPS suit. The child itself is not subject to the suit. That mother is Teresa Steed. She's about to "age out" of the system in five months, and tell the state to go take a hike.

There is Merrianne Jessop, the 14 (soon to be 15 year old) "child bride" of Warren Jeffs, who is ludicrously in physical custody while Warren languishes behind bars. There is little danger that the "sexual territory" of the prophet would be compromised on the outside, yet the state pretends there is such a danger. There is no safer woman or girl in all of YFZ. Texas CPS though engages in ludicrous prior restraint over the "fear" of an event that almost certainly would never happen. The potential "reassignment" of Merrianne Jessop to another husband.

Then there is the infuriating "newspeak" of the CPS about "offering services." If allowed, the FLDS I am sure, would chew the hand off to the elbow, that "offered" them such "services." Offered? OFFERED?? These "services" are gross invasions of privacy and disruptions of lives and endangerment of lives are being shoved down the collective throats of the FLDS. For such statements to be printed without qualification is noxious. I have remarked on it before, there should be an accompanying explanation every time such verbiage is offered by Texas, that the FLDS don't see them as being "offered" nor do they see them as "services."

Like I said, it's a lot like Texas saying they "offer" execution, as a "service" to men on death row.

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Just in case you think Teresa Steed is Acting for effect.

You think the FLDS "teen" who has a child is blowing this out of proportion? Is she pandering to sympathy? Shouldn't she trust the state's motives?

Just because they lie to her is no reason for her to play tricks on them to keep the baby away from the state is it?

The Salt Lake Tribune - "The state and attorneys for the girl and her mother agreed in November to a 'meet and greet' where caseworkers could observe the infant, not take DNA, he said.

But representatives of the Texas Attorney General's Office also showed up and performed the test.

'We don't know what their motives are but one thing we do know is it's not about protecting [the girl] or her baby,' Jessop said."

I always wonder why such facts are not reported at the time they were learned. I have a tendency to read most relevant articles on the topic, perhaps I missed it. Here Brooke Adams reveals that Teresa Steed shows up for the "meet and greet" (why she has to do this, I don't know) and we find trust is the first thing to be violated. All it was, was a sham to get DNA from the child.

Texas is not treating any of these children, as children and is not concerned for their well being beyond keeping them alive for evidence harvesting (the child) or hostage taking (Merrianne Jessop, Teresa Jeffs). They have no concern for their person, for their futures or for their happiness or health. They're TISSUE SAMPLES in an EVIDENCE locker.

After Teresa Steed has been lied to once by Texas Brown Shirts, why wouldn't she play games with them the next time? She clearly believes that whatever meeting it is that the state wishes to have, is misrepresented as to reason. They want the child. She doesn't want them to have the child.

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Fisking Fabulous Teresa Steed's Latest Escapade

(Fisk?) Regardless of what you may think of the FLDS, you can't call the women or girls immature or childish. This is first rate bait and switch.

The Dallas Morning News/AP - "Texas child welfare authorities have asked a judge to order (17 year old Teresa Steed) to submit to a psychological evaluation after she showed up to an appointment for genetic testing with someone else's baby."

What, did they want to know how she could be such a formidable opponent at such a young age? First she stonewalled them back in November, now they can't seem to find out which baby she brought with her, until they DNA test the child, and find out, they've been fooled again.

"(Teresa) had previously refused to disclose the whereabouts of the infant born in June, when she was 16 and shortly after she and the other 437 children taken from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado were returned to their parents from foster care."

Aw, did a hopeless mind controlled 16 year old blow you off? Too smart for you?

"(Teresa) teen produced a baby purported to be her biological child for genetic testing in January, but tests revealed she is not the infant's biological mother, said Child Protective Services attorney John Dolezal in a court filing on Thursday."

I think what this means is that back when we thought she had caved to pressure, Teresa not only fooled them, she fooled us all. I seriously like this woman (Yes, a 17 year old CAN be a woman). Dang, why does she have to be married already? I was so disappointed, now I'm so pumped she pulled the wool over my eyes, and theirs too.

"State officials believe (Teresa Steed) was married to a man in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when she was 14. In Texas, someone younger than 17 generally cannot consent to sex with an adult, and The Associated Press is withholding her name because it generally does not name possible victims of sex crimes."

That's ok, I'm not. She'll be 18 in 6 months anyway.

" 'It appears that (the girl) has been separated from her child,' (CPS lead attorney d'jour John R.) Dolezal said in the filing."

It appears that you have no idea who the child is, where the child is, and Teresa has been pulling of a job of acting that makes her the overlooked real winner of the Oscar for Best Actress this year.

"The agency is also concerned the girl is 'being improperly influenced, against her best interest, into making choices to not produce her child and to produce another individual's child,' he wrote."

No, this is an intelligent adult in all ways except age alone. She's protecting her child cunningly from people she doesn't trust who have lied to her family. She's doing it for good reason. She knows that if she can pull it off for another 6 months, she can tell CPS to take a hike. She doesn't believe the state when they say they aren't trying to get custody of her child and she figures that if they don't see see the child before she turns 18, she'll have a lot better chance. Hows that for a rational reason? A mom thinks enhancing her baby's chances to remain with her mother, is a good thing and acts to preserve that.

"CPS officials have said they want to ensure the infant is safe and are not seeking custody."

Yeah. Right. Sure. Mom knows that the infant is safe and that CPS can't seek custody if they can't find the child.

"The girl's attorney, Kelly Ellis, is on maternity leave and couldn't immediately be reached for comment on Monday."

What's this? Did they try to get at Teresa Steed while her lawyer was otherwise occupied? That's what it looks like to me.

Willie Jessop weighed in on the fascinating situation;

"The department has reaffirmed that they're not trustworthy. She was concerned that they would take the baby."

Jessop said.

"A hearing in the teen's case is scheduled for Friday."

Oh, I think this is shaping up to be a fun week.

"Her case is one of just two remaining cases in what was initially one of the largest custody cases in U.S. history."

And now we have the first official PRESS acknowledgment that I know of, that Bill Medvecky told us the truth back on February 17th. There are only two children left. Merrianne Jessop, and Teresa Steed's child. This has become though, the proverbial riddle, wrapped up in an enigma. The problem is it all might be wrapped up in a misdirection and layered under a mystery. No one including me knows what's up, except those at the heart of the matter. Teresa intends to keep her child away from CPS, and I don't blame her at all.

If I got any of this wrong, I hope I got someone at CPS to believe me. It doesn't look like that because of the way the San Angelo Standard-Times is reporting the story.

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March Makes it a Year

The calls started coming a year ago in March.

With the sudden wind down of child custody cases, came a sudden disappearance of stories from all the major press outlets. The only story covered was a self congratulatory one from the Deseret News about what a cool job they did covering the YFZ raid. You can almost hear the doors slamming, the lights going out, the file boxes being filled and placed in storage.

Phase one, is over.

The first part of the FLDS story is that which all good hearted people (which would be most of us) could care about. Mothers separated from their children. This is never good and even CPS admits that. Now we're down to three, perhaps two children, depending on whether you believe Bill Medvecky, I do, so it's two. Effectively speaking a very small child who probably won't end up ultimately in CPS custody and 14 year old Merrianne Jessop, betrothed and/or wed to Warren Jeffs are really, in the mind of the assembled guardians of public access, not too high a price to pay in our collective conscience for getting a bunch of dirty old men.

We now know what the press thinks of Warren, and the other eleven indicted men. They are as expendable as the remaining two children. This list was originally found at the Salt Lake Tribune, but now can be found archived here;

• » Warren S. Jeffs, 53, aggravated sexual assault; sexual assault of a minor; bigamy.
• » Lloyd H. Barlow, 38, failure to report child abuse.
• » Keith William Dutson, 23, sexual assault of a minor.
• » Michael George Emack, 57, bigamy.
• » Allan Eugene Keate, 56, sexual assault of a minor.
• » Abram Harker Jeffs, 37, bigamy; sexual assault of a minor.
• » Lehi Barlow Jeffs, 29, bigamy; sexual assault of a minor.
• » Fredrick Merril Jessop, 72, conducting an unlawful marriage.
• » Merril Leroy Jessop, 33, sexual assault of a minor; bigamy.
• » Raymond Merril Jessop, 36, sexual assault of a minor; bigamy.
• » Wendell Loy Nielsen, 68, bigamy.
• » Leroy Johnson Steed, 42, sexual assault of a minor; two counts of bigamy; tampering with evidence.

I pointed out earlier today that our world champion "marrying kind," Linda Lou Taylor, had married first at age 16, in 1956 to a 31 year old man fresh out of the military. There was even a song in that era, celebrating age differences that they used to sing, slightly modified. Linda stayed married to that man for 7 years, and described him as her "best" husband. More recently there have been songs like the one covered by Ringo Starr, "You're 16, you're beautiful, and you're mine." Loretta Lynn marries at 13 and has a bigger family by 18, than almost anyone you now know, unless you watch the Duggers on TV and think you know them. Unless you're FLDS. And reading this.

Now the age differences of Raymond Jessop, Merril Jessop, Leroy Steed, Lehi Jeffs, Keith Dutson and their similarly aged brides are vilified and pilloried as heinous felonies. I fail to see how marrying a 16 year old becomes rape in a mere 50 years. I fail to see how it is that if you did marry, legally, a 16 year old in these days and cheated on her, that the actions of Raymond, Merril, Leroy, Lehi and Keith in marrying informally the girls they married and having others, would amount to any thing more serious than the aforementioned cheating older husband.

Let me run that by you again. I'm saying you can run out and marry a 16 year old and cheat on her and nothing will happen to you. Nothing substantively different happens to the girls of the FLDS men either, yet while they all want to remain with one another, the FLDS men are perhaps going to jail for a very long time as felons. This is nonsense. Yet this is "icky" to the press covering it, so they won't stand up for these men at all.

Linda Lou can marry her 31 year old at 16. A 13 year old can marry her 14 year old boyfriend, and cheat on him with her soccer coach. Linda Lou's husband can cheat on her with a 21 year old woman, and no one goes to jail. If you propose that what you do is marriage, but don't bother to register it, and also suppose that you can have permanent other girlfriends, you're going to jail, don't pick up the soap.

This is a nutshell is where the press is now. They're faced with investigating a story that may, in the end, result in letting 11 men go that did something we allow to happen legally, all the time, but don't want to hear about, because it's "icky." God help you if you stand up and say "what have these men done" because if you do, you'll be labeled as a pedophile.

Phase two, where the press steps back, having given the people what they want, mothers with their children, and gives over the men, to be sacrificed. After years of being told they're not needed. Men can now be thrown overboard.

To my knowledge, there is not one wife that wants to be loose from her common law spouse. All will be 18 or older when the trials start next fall. It's icky though, and we saw it, so these men must pay.

To my knowledge, there is not a child that wants to be separated from their fathers, but the above applies as well. It's icky, we saw it, the men must pay. Study after study shows the effects on children of breaking up families, of separating children from their fathers, but, it's ICKY. They MUST PAY.

So we have the press on the brink of a logical jumping off point and they're bailing it would seem. I sincerely hope I am wrong but there has been little in the way of news for about two weeks now, and by my estimation, there is only two important stories left as far as the press in concerned, and they don't happen until this fall. Merrianne Jessop going free. FLFS men going to jail. From the presses concern, this is a fair deal. Kids back with mama, and dirty men in jail. Everyone's happy, right? FLDS haters get frog walking geezers going to lock-up to be sodomized, FLDS sympathizers see mama with the kids.

I'm going on record as saying unless EVERYONE goes home, men included, I don't count it as a victory. From here on out though, I don't think there is going to be a lot of help from the press.

And I really, really hope I'm wrong about that.

Next, what I humbly see and guess is next for the FLDS.

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Don't worry Annette, we're from the Government, and we're here to help you. (UPDATED)

With really, only two (one?) girl(s) as full of vinegar towards the state as could possibly be found, what was the reason to raid YFZ again?

The three remaining FLDS children under suit are Teresa Steed ? (Serena Keate?), Merrianne Jessop and one boy, a 9 10 year old. Of the three, two are directly tied to Warren, one through marriage/betrothal, that being Merrianne and the other being his son Ammon. His daughter, Teresa Jeffs, has been dropped from CPS suit. (UDPATE-It appears Ammon Jeffs has been NONSUITED, circumstances to follow.)

"Child Protective Services confirmed to the Deseret News the agency filed to have the child 'nonsuited' on Friday, leaving only two children left in the case. However, a judge may have to decide custody issues before dropping the case."

Typically, when a decision isn't going Judge Walther's way, she shoves the decision up against a weekend and "plays" FLDS parents for the duration. This was a particularly nice weekend to use, with "President's day" being on Monday, essentially Annette Jeffs, who is not the child's mother (that woman having died in 2004) has to wait out the weekend. I'm beginning to see a pattern of not waiting well on the part of the FLDS in general. They signed too many "service plans" right after the raid to get their children back when a little patience may have spared them a lot of later grief. More recently there was an anti FLDS blog site that went up and in the disorganized dither and panic surrounding it, people complained to "wordpress" and the site was taken down. Yes the site was embarrassing but the art of war says "leave it up and draw out it's publishers into the open." In the end, a lot more could have been gained by patience than by panic. Everybody should know where their towel is. So Walther, who is a consummate small town political operator, leans emotionally on the FLDS because she has had success in the past doing so. "Make 'em wait" she seems to say, "A bad day on Friday for me, is a better day on Tuesday." "Let 'em stew." And stew they do.

Here's hoping no one makes foolish concessions. The only reason to have Warren's son is that technically, he is probably the only child that should have stayed under CPS suit after the raid. His dad is in jail. The state actually had a formal responsibility to declare guardianship once his essentially orphaned state was discovered.

"San Angelo attorney Jonathan R. Davis also raised questions about Warren Jeffs, noting his criminal convictions, pending criminal cases and documents that revealed he performed underage marriages. Davis asked that either CPS or Annette Jeffs be appointed conservator over the child, with conditions, and Warren Jeffs' access to the boy limited until he reaches maturity."

This is utterly ridiculous. LIMIT access to the boy? His access is already limited. Warren may live out his life in jail in another state. The only reason Warren's access would not be limited is that Warren would not be IN jail and by the time that happens the reason for limiting his access will either be swept away through acquittal on charges and reversal of previous charges or because Warren has been let out of jail after a long time in prison and his son, who is 9, will easily be another 9 years older. An adult. Admitting something along these lines though would be admitting for instance that Merrianne Jessop is no longer in danger, for the same reasons.

"Davis wrote that the boy appears 'physically healthy and is both courteous and well-behaved.' He currently lives with Annette Jeffs and is home-schooled, according to court papers. Montford asked for that arrangement to continue, adding that if the case were to go to court she would mount a religious freedom defense.

'Annette Jeffs is free to exercise and hold her religious beliefs and raise her children according to these beliefs without government infringement,' (Annette's attorney Mindy) Montford wrote. "Respondent may also educate her children in a manner that she sees appropriate.'

Court clerks were unsure late Friday if 51st District Judge Barbara Walther had nonsuited the boy. A court hearing is tentatively scheduled for March 5. The boy's siblings were dropped a couple of weeks ago."

Having heard nothing over the weekend on this case, I'm going to guess Barbara waits until some concession is made today, or that she waits until March 5th. That day being a Thursday, she will probably decide to "think about it" overnight and will return to issue an 11th hour ruling on Friday. That ruling will be timed and handled so as to muffle the sound of the child's non-suiting and release or to make as much of a dust up as possible about some rumored abuse. There's always the possibility that she will release the child under the cloud of some huge news cycle so that no one notices. If the stock market plunges or an important figure dies or someone goes to war, figure that Warren's 9 year old will quietly be slipped through the dust to Annette.

With CPS having essentially "non-suited" all but two of the 439 children, the question of whether or not the YFZ environment is or was abusive is settled. It wasn't. Virtually every other "environment" for 439 children in this country if investigated in the same fashion, would yield more cases of abuse. Right now we have a 14 year old virgin that is threatened by a man that will be locked up for the duration of her teenage years, and a 17 year old with a child, who isn't interested in the state's help, has been openly defiant of them and will be 18 this summer. Clearly no one needed or wanted their help. A classic case of "we're from the Government, and we're here to help you."

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Forecasting the Merrianne Jessop issue.

It will not go the way of Teresa Jeffs, at least not this afternoon.

The pattern of Walther's decisions are political. Merrianne might get her choice of lawyer because I know of no self respecting attorney that would want to do Walther's bidding after the Dusek and Malonis fiascos. Court appearances do not decide anything in Walther Land. Evidence presented in court decides nothing, the decisions are already made, and "announced." Hence there was a "surprisingly" short appearance by Walther and an exit. You don't spend time dwelling on bad news after all, for your side.

The Merrianne Jessop issue will be decided this afternoon, and Walther will spend, as she does, time deciding things behind the scenes, and then the bad news will be delivered and she will make a quick exit, leaving the results of her "drive by rulings" for everyone to struggle with over the weekend.

I'd love to be wrong, but in forecasting these things, I note that the San Angelo Standard Times motion to set aside a subpoena, was dismissed. That means Walther will continue to grind her ax in that arena, which is probably bad news for Merrianne. I'd love to be wrong. Let's hope I am.

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Walther starts to give in, Malonis & Dusek out. If the "Environment" wasn't abusive for Teresa Jeffs, it wasn't for ANYONE.

The Judge starts caving to reality. Malonis gone.

The San Angelo Standard-Times - "51st District Judge Barbara Walther dismissed all petitions and attorneys involved with the case of the now-17-year-old girl alleged to have been married to a 34-year-old man just after her 15th birthday - closing for good one of the highest profile and most contentious aspects of the long-running litigation surrounding the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."

This is key.

"Malonis had argued that a series of prospective witness statements from CPS in December stating that the girl had been in a 'harmful, abusive environment' should be considered before Walther dismissed the case."

This is the STATE's case, not Natalie Malonis' case. If they say that Teresa Jeffs was not in a 'harmful abusive environment' and that she should be released from any suit or case, then who ever was? When will they release Merrianne?

" 'The court can take notice of many things,' Walther replied, 'but the court must follow the law. The court cannot make the law. ... This is an unusual case, but I don't see any authority for you to continue.'

With that, Walther dismissed a raft of motions filed in the moments leading up to the hearing - including a motion filed by the Standard-Times to quash a subpoena filed against one of its reporters, as well as an ongoing fight over whether to seal the deposition transcript from YFZ Ranch leader Merril Jessop.

'I was prepared to continue doing what I thought I needed to do,' Malonis said, 'but I'm relieved to have relief.'

Walther also accepted the withdrawal of Carmen Symes Dusek as the attorney for a 14-year-old girl alleged to have been married to Warren Jeffs, the sect's leader, and signed an agreed order to seal a guardian's report filed in the case."

Walther now positioning herself as a Judge that doesn't make law? This is full scale headlong armor shedding weapon dropping retreat. If Walther doesn't see any authority for Natalie to continue, how did she ever see any authority at all?

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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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