"We are all very very happy with the ruling. It vindicates what we have said from the beginning. The children should never have been taken from their home and families and kept from their families for such a long time," said the Jessops' lawyer, Rene Haas.

Haas said the Jessops have every intention of "continuing to live in peace in Texas, which was their hope when they moved here three years ago."

Aftermath

The families are emerging from a nightmare, Jessop said.

"I know that there is hope and it will be a great, great day when there are fathers and mothers hugging little children that were ripped away from them," he said.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry was reviewing the ruling and had no comment, a spokeswoman told the Deseret News.

The ruling could open the door for a civil action against Texas over the decisions made to remove the children.

Asked if a civil lawsuit was being actively pursued, Parker told the Deseret News, "I can't say."

Parker sent letters last month to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and Schleicher County authorities, warning them to preserve all communications and other evidence for use in a possible civil lawsuit.

The results of DNA testing to determine family relationships are also expected back today or next week, the Texas Attorney General's Office said. A criminal investigation remains under way, with Tom Green County prosecutors saying they are considering a number of options — including a bigamy prosecution. Jessop called it a "war on religion."

The raid on the YFZ Ranch will be forever ingrained in the history of the FLDS people, who endured a raid on their enclaves in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., in 1953.

"In the Short Creek raid, the officials had enough of a heart that they at least let little children be with their mother," Jessop said. "The emotional damage of this far exceeds the damage done in the '53 raid. Only God can mend a broken heart."

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Contributing: Angela Curtis, Amy Joi O'Donoghue, Linda Thomson, Lisa Riley-Roche
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com