From Deseret News archives:

Judge won't be booted from FLDS case

Published: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 4:32 p.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
Jeffs has been subpoenaed to testify Wednesday before a grand jury investigating crimes involving FLDS members. The Texas Attorney General's Office said it could not find Jeffs to subpoena her, and Malonis went to court seeking a restraining order against FLDS member and Jessop. In court papers, she accused Jessop of coercing the girl to avoid the subpoena and interfering with her relationship with her client.

Walther signed a temporary restraining order that technically prevents Jeffs' mother from allowing her daughter to have any contact with Jessop. A hearing on a more permanent restraining order will be held this afternoon.

On Monday, Malonis said she spoke with the attorney for Jeffs' mother, but no agreement could be reached.

"I hoped we could, but no ... ," she told the Deseret News.

Malonis said she is prepared to call witnesses and present evidence to suggest that the girl is being intimidated and pressured by FLDS members. The judge is not expected to consider Jeffs' request for a new lawyer.

Rod Parker, a Salt Lake attorney acting as a spokesman for the FLDS, believes Malonis is not following her court-appointed duties. Because Malonis is Teresa Jeffs' attorney ad litem and not her guardian ad litem, her job is to be an advocate for the child, he said.

Story continues below
"I think that she's really out on a limb in doing what she's doing and injuring her own client in a very public way," Parker said. "This is just a very unhealthy and dysfunctional attorney-client relationship. The court ought to grant Teresa's wish and give her another lawyer. This system of justice does not work appropriately when attorneys and their clients are at odds with each other."

Although the hearing is supposed to be limited to the restraining order, Parker hoped the issue of Jeffs' attorney would be brought up, since that was what initially led to the restraining order.

When the Texas Supreme Court ordered the hundreds of children taken in the April 3 raid to be returned to their parents, Jeffs was exempted.

Malonis said in court papers it was because the girl was an identified sex-abuse victim who had been "spiritually united" to an older man at 15. A special order was put in place for Jeffs, preventing her from contacting her father — FLDS leader Warren Jeffs — and a man named Raymond Jessop, who was not further identified.

The Deseret News normally does not name sex-abuse victims, but the girl has gone public in media interviews and in an e-mail forwarded to the Deseret News. She insists she is not a victim. In her e-mail, the girl said neither Willie Jessop nor Raymond Jessop has ever threatened her.

"That have treated (sic) so very kindly," she wrote.

Jeffs wrote in the communication with Malonis that she did not want the grand jury subpoena, but acknowledged being served.

"Well, they want me to appear before a grand jury. I do not have confidence in you and how can I get you to help me in such a situation that I am in when it feels like to me all you are doing is going against me," she wrote. "So, that is the reason that I am asking you to step aside and let me do what I need to do to and get me a different attorney."


E-mail: preavy@desnews.com; bwinslow@desnews.com

Recent comments

Threatening email | 3:18 p.m. June 24, 2008
After Teresa sent a...

Dyann | July 6, 2008 at 6:15 a.m.

re - 8:39pm

yes - you're right - hundreds have escaped or been...

realitycheck | June 25, 2008 at 4:15 p.m.

Re: JDM, I stand corrected. I was thinking of the news story in the...

wingnut | June 24, 2008 at 11:16 p.m.

previousnext

Latest comments

Letters: Shouting side effects?

How soon we forget that in a similar situation during the Bush administration...

Letters: Liberal because LDS

Sounds like you have some self-imposed family-related insecurities aggravated...

George lost in rivalry hatefest

Dick Harmon is a highly skilled writer. One of the best.Sometimes the beauty...

Bennett seeks to stall N-waste bill

"EnergySolutions has proposed to process 20,000 tons of Italian waste in...

Snow hopes to snap bowl game skid

Let's hope the weather holds up as well as the defense.

George lost in rivalry hatefest

"rise of indignant rivalry victimhood." Dick, you are wrong if you think...

Letters: Applaud 'green people'

Conservation is and of itself should be applauded. However it has become a...

Brace yourselves for care reform

Leaving behind the common sense principle of not continually borrowing and...

I think there is some truth to what the professors say. Mr. Beck seems to be...

George lost in rivalry hatefest

The shameful list is growing: Morgan Scalley Alex Smith Paul Kruger...

Advertisements