Here we go again, Christians BEWARE

In a move that should frighten every "Fundamentalist" Christian in the country, Texas wants to take the Yearning for Zion ranch away from the FLDS and it's resident members:

The San Angelo Standard Times - "The Texas Attorney General's Office on Wednesday filed search and seizure paperwork in 51st District Court in Schleicher County, seeking to take over the 1,600-acre YFZ Ranch owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."

Of course, Texas isn't trying to render FLDS members homeless, no.....

"The Office of the Texas Attorney General doesn't know how many people still reside at the ranch, Strickland said. Nevertheless, the seizure 'is not an eviction notice,' he said. He said he didn't want to speculate on what might happen to the ranch if the state succeeds in seizing it."

It does look like the residents knew something was afoot earlier this year:

"It's uncertain how many people still live at the ranch. In 2008, more than 400 children were taken from the ranch before appellate courts ordered them returned to their families. Over the past year, massive building projects began to crop up around the ranch.

Then earlier this year, a huge tower that resembled an airport control tower was toppled shortly after it was finished, and work has halted on an amphitheater-like building larger than the temple on the property."

Supposedly, the way the money was brought in to finance the acquisition of the "Yearning for Zion" Ranch was illegal. Are you really sure than you're exempt? Just parceling the money out in a way that the government doesn't like, is illegal it would seem:

Fox News - "In the affidavit, prosecutors allege that sect members illegally structured financial transactions and that Jeffs personally toured the ranch before the land was purchased."

But no one has been charged with a crime, yet, just like before:

"To support prosecutors' claims that FLDS leaders financed the property through money laundering, one section in the affidavit lists 175 deposits, almost all of which are just less than $10,000, made at San Angelo banks over the course of two years and staggered by only a few days each. The total is about $1.5 million.

Prosecutors say the series of four-figure deposits -- which financial investigators call 'structuring' -- are typically done to evade federal reporting requirements.

However, the Texas attorney general's office, however, has not formally charged any FLDS members with any financial crimes."

Yup, a bunch of child molesters, who cares? Right? Except if you haven't read this blog, or others like it over the last four years, you probably think you know things about the YFZ affair that never happened, such as there being a bunch of pregnant teenage girls wandering around YFZ during the raid in 2008. To this date Texas has never said WHO they saw that was pregnant and "underage" when they raided YFZ, and only one girl out of all the underage girls on the ranch might have been visibly pregnant. That's wholly unremarkable in today's America.

This tactic can be used against YOUR church. The YFZ ranch is a FLDS church trust holding, and the church is being treated like a sort of organized crime syndicate. With as many laws as this country has, all they need to do is pick one your church members seem to violate, and start combing through your church's finances, and declare that you did something illegal to buy your land, and on it, you engaged in "crimes."

The smaller you are, the more conservative your beliefs, the greater the danger.

Just remember how they got the documents that they are using to seize the property:

The San Angelo Standard Times - "The ranch had been created with the intent of illegal activity, the affidavit alleges. The civil document liberally quotes Jeffs from his sacred documents, recovered from the ranch in the 2008 raid."

But the basis for the raid was a hoax call:

Fox News - "Texas Rangers raided the ranch following a call to a domestic abuse hotline that turned out to be false, and took 439 children into state custody."

The hoaxer now is completely forgotten in the narrative, as she was so obviously NOT genuine. Fox even forgets to mention that none of the kids were kept by Texas, but at least San Angelo's paper did remember:

"In 2008, more than 400 children were taken from the ranch before appellate courts ordered them returned to their families."

Go back to sleep now.

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The unsealed affidavit of Ruby Gutierrez and Warrant

It should be noted that "ME" in this case, is JAMES DOYLE, who used to conduct "flyovers" of the YFZ Ranch.

BEFORE ME, the undersigned authority, personally appeared Ruby Gutierrez who was sworn by me and deposed as follows:

"My name is Ruby Gutierrez, I am of sound mind, over the age of 18, and capable of making this Affidavit.

I am a caseworker for the Department of Family and Protective Services (the "Department"), and I am authorized on behalf of the department to make this Affidavit. I have reviewed the Department's Petition for Order in Aid of Investigation of a Report of Child Abuse or Neglect, and the facts stated in the Petition and in this Affidavit are within my personal knowledge and are true and correct."

1.) Facts Necessitating Need Of Investigation Of A Report Of Child Abuse Or Neglect.

On March 29, 2008, the Department received an intake report at 11:32 p.m. According to the intake, Sarah Jessop a/k/a Sarah Jessop Barlow ("Sarah Jessop"), a 16 year old female, and her 8 month old infant (name unknown) were living with a 49 year old male, Dale Evans Barlow ("Dale Barlow"), and 12 other adult females at a housing facility located on the YFZ Ranch located near Eldorado, Schleicher County, Texas, which ranch is owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and which is inhabited by a number of members of that church.

Sarah Jessop had called a local family violence shelter several times that day expressing the need to leave her current living situation. Sarah Jessop reported that she was brought to the YFZ Ranch by her parents from Colorado City, Arizona, about three years ago, when she would have been 13 years old. She stated that about two years after her arrival on the YFZ Ranch (or about one year prior to the date of this report), which would have been when she was 15 years old; she was spiritually married to Dale Barlow according to the tenets of the church. Sarah Jessop indicated that Dale Barlow was also married to several other women and that she was wife number seven.

Sarah Jessop stated that she began to be abused shortly after she started living at the YFZ Ranch. She advised that Dale Barlow would "beat and hurt" her whenever he got angry. According to Sarah Jessop, this would include Dale Barlow hitting her in the chest and choking her and that while such abuse was occuring one of the other women in the home would hold her eight month old child. Sarah Jessop reported that the last time Dale Barlow beat her was on Easter Sunday 2008. Sarah Jessop advised that, on a previous occasion, Dael Barlow had beaten her so severely that it result in her having several broken ribs, for which she was taken to the hospital. The doctor wrapped her torso in an ace bandage and told her to "take it easy for a few days." Sarah Jessop also indicated that Dale Barlow would hurt her explaining that he would force himself on her sexually. She also indicated that she was several weeks pregnant.

Sarah Jessop stated that she was not allowed to leave the YFZ Ranch, unless it was to receive medical care, in which case Dale Barlow would drive her and one of the other women from the YFZ Ranch would go into the hospital with her. She indicated that she had tried to devise a plan to escape from the YFZ Ranch, by pretending to be ill and needing to receive medical care, but determined this would not work since she would not be allowed to take her eight month old child with her unless the child was also sick.

Sarah Jessop indicated during the conversations that she was calling using someone else's cell phone and she was reported to be very very quiet throughout the conversations for fear that she would be overheard and would get in trouble. Sarah Jessop stated that her parents do not live on the YFZ Ranch and that she has not had any contact with them to explain that she does not want to continue to be on the ranch.

Subsequently, on March 30, 2008, Sarah Jessop again contacted staff at a local family shelter. During thsi conversation, Sarah Jessop again stated that she and Dale Barlow had been married in a spiritual union through the church, but there was no formal marriage, and that Dale Barlow had three other "wives" living on the YFZ Ranch. Sarah Jessop reported that Dale Barlow had previously went away fora while to the "outsiders world", but she said she did not know why he went away.

The Department, as part of its investigation, subsequently determined that Dale Barlow was indicted in Mohave County, Arizona, on criminal charges of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor in connection with a purported marriage to a minor in Arizona, with whom he conceived a child. Dale Barlow pled no contest in August of 2007 to the conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor and he was convicted of that offense. As part of the plea agreement, the sexual conduct with a minor charge was dismissed. Dale Barlow was sentenced to 45 days in jail and required to serve three years probation. He is also required to register as a sex offender until he successfully completes his probation.

During the March 30, 2008 conversation, Sarah Jessop indicated that she was being held against her will at the YFZ Ranch and church members have told her that if she tries to leave, she will be found and locked up. Sarah Jessop also expressed during this conversation concerns about what would happen to her if she were to leave the YFZ Ranch. She reported tha church members have told her if she leaves the ranch, outsiders will hurt her, force her to cut her hair, to wear make up and clothes and to have sex with lots of men. Sarah Jessop also indicated that her parents, who had returned to live in Colorado City, Arizona, were preparing to send her 15 year old sister to live at the YFZ Ranch. At the conclusion of this conversation, Sarah Jessop began crying and then stated that she is happy and fine and does not want to get into trouble and that everything she had previously said should be forgotten.

3. Additional Facts Necessitating Need Of Investigation Of A Report of Child Abuse Or Neglect.

The Department, during its investigation of the allegations made by Sarah Barlow, obtained access to the YFZ Ranch. While at the ranch, the Department observed a number of young teenaged girls who appeared to be pregnant, as well as several teenaged girls who reported to the Department that they have already given birth and have their own infants. It appears that the culture and moral climate at the ranch is one in which young girls are conditioned to expect and accept sexual activity with adult men at the ranch.

The Department has also been advised that children at the ranch are deprived of nutrition as a method of punishment, as well as being forced to sit in closed closets as a method of punishment. A number of the children interviewed were unable to provide the names of their biological parents and were unable to provide information such as their birthdates or birthplaces. The Department is concerned about the possibility that some of these children have been denied a proper education.

Ruby Ruby Gutierrez
DFPS Caseworker

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Warren's Attorneys believe that there are recordings that Damn Doran.

In a motion before the court, Michael Piccarreta states clearly that he's being sandbagged on recordings from Sheriff David Doran that have the conversations at the YFZ gate recorded.

Overnight I posted to that subject. There are new postings of motions at Mohave County Arizona. These were posted unusually fast.

It is now known that Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran was equipped with audio and video recording equipment when Texas law enforcement authorities arrived at the YFZ Ranch prior to the raid. Prior to traveling to Texas to conduct interviews with Texas Law enforcement officials, counsel for the defendant specifically requested the State to disclose these audio and video recordings. [See correspondence from defense counsel, December 5, 2008, attached hereto as Exhibit A]. Undersigned counsel specifically requested these items pursuant to Rle 15 of the Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure and the principles set forth in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963). [Id.].

Despite this request, the audio and video recordings were not disclosed and counsel for the defendant had to conduct the interviews of the Texas law enforcement officials without the benefit of having reviewed the audio and video recordings. Indeed, despite additional requests since the interviews, these recordings still have not been disclosed to the defense. It appears very likely that, once thse audio and video recordings are disclosed to the defendant and have been reviewed, it will be necessary to re-interview the Texas law enforcement authorities as it is believed that the recordings may, in part, be inconsistent with the public positions taken by Texas law enforcement officials regarding the unlawful searches of the FLDS property.

For the Court's information, it was during this time period prior to the raid that Texas authorities learned that the man the were ostensibly looking for, Dale Evans Barlow, was, in fact, in the State of Arizona. The Texas authorities further learned that the 16 year old alleged victim who was purportedly the mother of a child and pregnant with another simply did not exist. Accordingly, it is believed that the audio and video recordings will directly support the defendant's claim that the Texas law enforcement authorities acted with reckless disregard with respect to the information in the search warrant affidavit that led the magistrate to issue the search warrants. See Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154 (1978). It is also believed that the audio and video recordings will expose the failure of Texas law enforcement authorities to return to the magistrate once they acquired information that undercut the purported probable cause showing in their affidavits. See generally 2 W. LaFave, Search and Seisure 3.2(d), p. 50 (4th ed. 2004)[police conduct "violates the Fourth Amendment when the police come upon additional facts dissipating their earlier probably cause'].

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Marlo. A conclusion about the "Third Girl"

Let's just say I am now convinced that there was an underage girl or girls that were seen and were pregnant during the raid of YFZ. The chronology of disclosures in press accounts and by CPS contain errors and those errors masked the true chronology and made it seem as if certain "possibilities" were eliminated. I stand by my previous remarks that this is still not evidence of a crime. It's just not. Any honest observer knows this.

I was asking questions about the "Third Girl" in June that was said to be on the verge of giving birth. It appears that this did happen, that there was such a girl. I shall refer to her as the "Third Girl", or "That Girl" or "Marlo" from now on out. ("That Girl" - "Marlo," get it?)

I of course cannot know what people said to various law enforcement officers that day at YFZ. That will wait until someone gets into court and puts the facts into evidence. If some child said "This is my mommy and he's my daddy" with one of the underage teens, that would be pretty damning for instance.

My remaining concerns are the much harder to prove "conspiracy" to enter YFZ in the first place. Much of the evidence points to at least an informal one. I've pointed out before that even if there is no firm basis legally for the second warrant, the facts are beginning to resemble a firm legal basis and there will be enough people who will line up and say "that's good enough" and ignore the real issues. I am instructed by the overwhelming wins of the principles involved in the last election. Where are we going to find people who will be willing to be fair and say that seeing a pregnant teen in a community of people "known" to practice underage marriage is not cause? More →

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The Silence of Jerry Strickland

I have emailed and called the Texas Attorney General's office. Three times. I've emailed Mr. Jerry Strickland. He has not seen fit to return my calls.

Ok, it's not like I'm the Salt Lake Tribune or the Austin American-Statesman.

Jerry will not answer these questions;

• Are any of the remaining 37 children pregnant?
  
  
• Do any of the remaining 37 children have children?
  
  
• How many of the remaining 37 are girls 12 or over?

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Arizona Judiciary doesn't buy it.

"No, no, we're not going to use the evidence at YFZ." That is Arizona's position, but they keep LOOKING at it. One of the reasons behind taking multiple DNA swabs from Veda Keate's children in Texas may have been to establish a second superficially untainted trail to the evidence outside that seized in the raid. How did they know who to swab? Similarly, how will Arizona know where to look for evidence? This is still fruit of the poison tree, but a sham trail is being established to that fruit.

If you were under legal scrutiny and concerned that something you did could at least be made to look bad, would you let the government come and go in your house, look through all your mail and your sock drawers, paw through your diaries and checking accounts and generally disrupt your life for 6 months? Um...no. If they end up not using the evidence they're going to use it to look for other evidence. This is why there are rules about collecting evidence not willingly turned over. The court it seems, is now waking up to it's responsibility in this matter.

The Deseret News - "(Warren Jeffs') criminal defense attorneys also say they don't buy Arizona prosecutors' assertions that they won't use evidence seized in the April raid on the FLDS Church's YFZ Ranch in Texas.

'The court is concerned that perhaps the state for now will want to reserve its options, not commit itself one way or the other as to whether it intends to use any of the Texas evidence and only make that decision at some time in the future,' Mohave County Superior Court Judge Stephen Conn wrote in an Oct. 23 order released Monday.

'The problem with the latter possibility is that the court and the defendant have the right to know now rather than later whether the state intends to use the Texas evidence at trial'."

Thanks for that, the defendant has rights. It cannot be that at the last possible moment Arizona suddenly says "I think we'll use that evidence now" placing an unreasonable burden on Warren Jeffs' defense and their strategies. What the court doesn't touch on is the fact that both Arizona and Texas are mining the evidence that could very well be thrown out, to find other paths to prosecution that appear legitimate. Paths they would have had no knowledge of, except that they looked at evidence illegally seized. This is why I brought up Veda Keate.

" 'Given the extraordinary extent of these coordinated prosection (sic) efforts, the court may understand the defendant's reluctance to accept the state's assurance that those efforts, designed specifically to obtain evidence against him and others, will have no bearing on the current criminal proceedings,' (Richard) Wright and (Michael) Piccarreta wrote.

The judge said that unless a deal is struck between prosecutors and Jeffs' defense team, he may have to rule on the legality of the search in Texas.

'How the latter determination would be made is difficult to fathom,' Conn wrote."

The judge clearly doesn't want to "go there" but the prosecution is forcing his hand and he's warning them. What he's warning them is that he anticipates a strong possibility of ruling against the use of such evidence. Then we have the thorny problem of looking at what Arizona has collected and used and seeing if they have also used that evidence to find other supposedly "untainted" evidence. That would be decidedly "no fair" and the prosecution's case would start to fall apart over the issue of not being able to unscramble their evidence omelet.

It was disturbing to watch FLDS members sign "family service plans" that would later be used against them, and to prolong CPS involvement in their lives. Those families may ultimately escape the worst consequences of those actions, but Warren IMHO opinion should NOT make a deal with the prosecution as FLDS families and their attorneys repeatedly have. He'll end up in jail for the rest of his life. It would appear the imprisonment already threatens his sanity.

"Jeffs' lawyers have complained of difficulty in getting interviews with Texas authorities. They also expressed frustration that a woman connected with one of the cases refused to meet with them. In another filing in one of the Jeffs cases, the attorneys did file notice that they had scheduled an interview next month with ex-FLDS member and anti-polygamy activist Flora Jessop."

My guess is that the judge will permit all interviews eventually.

If the judge ends up ruling on the evidence he starts a cascade effect. Either he rules against it and that becomes a precedent for use in Texas or he rules against it and sets up an appeal. He really doesn't want to go there. That's why he wants a "deal." WARREN, DON'T MAKE THAT DEAL.

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Jeffs having trouble interviewing Texas Rangers.

The most significant part of this story, I think, is the fact that Arizona is swearing off all evidence gathered at YFZ.

The Deseret News - "Mohave County prosecutors have repeatedly said they do not plan on using any evidence seized from Texas in Jeffs' upcoming trials in Arizona."

It would seem they think their case might be harmed if they took a peek at what Texas has. Beyond that, Texas is up to its usual tricks.

"In court papers filed Monday in Arizona, (Warren) Jeffs' defense attorneys are asking a judge to order the depositions of Texas law enforcement officials. Richard Wright and Michael Piccarreta say they have made repeated efforts to schedule interviews, but Texas authorities have not cooperated with them.

'This failure to grant personal interviews is slowing the process of analysis as to all of the issues raised in the motion to suppress,' the attorneys wrote."

If there is nothing harmful to the cases that Texas seeks to prosecute against the FLDS, then why the foot dragging? Texas on the one hand seems to think there IS something to hide. Arizona on the other wants to be as far away from Texas evidence as they can. But tehre's nothing wrong with the collection of evidence at YFZ. Nope. Nothing.

"The Texas Department of Public Safety referred questions to the state's attorney general's office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment."

No comment.

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FLDS Action quickens pace. Warrant issue looms despite being dropped, for now.

The operative words are highlighted.

The San Angelo Standard Times - "District Judge Barbara Walther formally vacated Wednesday a hearing that was to determine the admissibility of evidence alleging underage marriages at a polygamous sect's Schleicher County compound - ending, at least for now, what could have been the ultimate showdown over the validity of search warrants executed at the YFZ Ranch in April."

Here's the reasoning;

"FLDS attorneys said that because their clients are not among the nine defendants indicted thus far by a Schleicher County grand jury in the case, they have no need for the hearing to take place. The motion, released by the court Wednesday, seems to leave the door open for attorneys representing any of the indicted men to file a similar motion and begin the process again."

I do think that this allowed FLDS attorneys to get a "sneak peek" at Texas CPS strategy. Maybe I'm ascribing too much to their planning. They also may have been anticipating that by this time one of their clients MIGHT have been under indictment. Perhaps Texas delayed indicting one of those people so as to avoid confronting the issue now. They're going to have to confront it someday though.

While to some it may have seemed that the superficial signs were that the FLDS were lying down and dying, there was this development.

The Deseret News - "Attacking Child Protective Services' case that the children were removed en masse from the polygamous sect's Eldorado property because they were in immediate danger of abuse, (Robert Gibson Jr.) said the agency still hasn't made its case for his client's 2-year-old.

'DFPS and its attorneys knew or should have known that at the time they filed this suit that such an allegation was frivolous, unreasonable and without foundation and that it continues to this date to be frivolous, unreasonable and without foundation,' he wrote."

This is a reload of the warrant argument to some extent. This is the second time that I've heard a rumble that Texas KNEW at the time it went in, in one way or another, that there was no basis. Now that echo shows up in Gibson's action. Naomi Johnson, his client, is alleging "wrongful misconduct" against DFPS.

" 'At all relevant times prior to the filing of this lawsuit, DFPS was not aware of any facts and did not have any facts within its knowledge which indicated, in the slightest degree, that (Naomi Johnson) had perpetrated or had allowed anyone else to perpetrate any physical or emotional abuse towards the child,' Johnson's attorney, Robert Gibson Jr., wrote in court papers filed here."

This is where I hear the echo of the warrant argument again. It insists that at no point was there any cause against Naomi Johnson. The truth is there is cause now against the FLDS men indicted by the Grand Jury but up until the point that they began collecting evidence seized in the initial part of the raid, there was no cause against them either, just as there was never any against Naomi Johnson.

It is axiomatic that if there was no cause at any point against Naomi Johnson, there was no cause against anyone else in the FLDS either. Texas would have to drop the whole idea of an "environment of abuse" to have any hope at all that the warrants were valid, if Naomi wins her action. There will be a hearing next month on the 19th.

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Walther splits the FLDS custody cases. What does that say about the warrants?

It would seeem now all the cases are individual. Individual by mother, individual by child. They are grouped by mother. This is a concession that the "one household" theory is a bust. The San Angelo Standard-Times;

"(Judge Barbara) Walther split Case No. 2902 - which included more than 300 children - into 110 cases grouped by mother, and Case 2903, which included more than 30 children, into nine cases, also grouped by mother. They join 125 cases filed separately by the state's Child Protective Services agency, which removed nearly 440 children from the sect's Schleicher County compound in early April."

It's on a Friday afternoon, which means they don't want to talk about it. You dump something you want to hide on a Friday afternoon, or you dump a rumor you want to have maximum effect on a Friday afternoon. You also rule in an unfavorable way on a Friday afternoon so that it's two or three days before it's effect can be appealed.

I think this means the first warrant is swept aside completely. This also has implications for the second warrant, since the Texas Rangers were at the YFZ Ranch on the basis of the first warrant and searched the whole ranch as a single household. These are now all individual cases.

UPDATED THOUGHTS: This is also a prelude to dropping any claim to the vast majority of the children, which is the GOOD news. The BAD news is that we will soon see which children then intend to keep. In all honesty I think it's possible that there won't be any. One of these Friday afternoons, perhaps even this one, a good deal of them will be dropped. Maybe they don't want to give the parenting classes after all. I've alays had the distinct impression the parenting classes were just necessary window dressing. Drop these cases now, and you don't have to hold as many of them, it's a budget/enthusiasm thing.

We then move on to a criminal phase, and it's back to the warrants issue. I can't honestly see how Walther holds that together, or any subsequent judge does in a criminal proceeding. Up until now we've dealt with the rather liberal interpretations of law permitted in the supposedly "civil" action that custody is. Transferring the evidence of the raid to a criminal case is dicey. More →

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Warrant? What Warrant? We don't need no stinking warrants....

The cancellation of the warrant for Dale Evans Barlow means one of two things.

Texas' Keystone Cop Gestapo can and is operating now with NO warrant and doesn't need one. Of course that would have been true from the moment they breached the gates of YFZ for that to be true now.

THERE IS A WARRANT, which is why they were vague on the date of cancellation of the first. They've been operating on another warrant for another cause now for who knows how long.

Some legal eagle out there could tell me more about this. I am as always, just your humble pharisee.

I also note as I have before, this little bombshell came at the right place in the news cycle. Late Friday afternoon. The Salt Lake Tribune to my knowledge was the first to break the story. 5 hours later I saw it in the Austin Statesman.

OUR STORY SO FAR, on the one month anniversary. Read it in the Salt Lake Tribune.

SAN ANGELO, Texas - On the one-month anniversary of a massive raid at a polygamous sect's ranch, here are the numbers:
* 599 DNA samples collected;
* 464 children in state custody;
* 16 group shelters caring for the children;
* One warrant canceled;
* No charges issued.

I'm still wondering if there is another shoe, like, another warrant. I think Scott at Grits saw it first.
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