Dates set for trials of 12 FLDS men
The men all appeared before a judge in an Eldorado, Texas, court on Monday where a schedule was laid out for the dozen men facing grand jury indictments.
Raymond Merril Jessop, 37, will be the first to go on trial Oct. 26 on a charge of sexual assault of a child. The rest will take place in a monthly succession based on the number of indictments, the Texas Attorney General's Office said Monday.
The exception will be FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, 53, who is incarcerated in Arizona pending trial there on sexual misconduct charges. Jeffs is facing charges of sexual assault of a child and bigamy in Texas.
In the immediate future, lawyers for the men will be filing motions to challenge the hundreds of thousands of pieces of evidence seized when law enforcement raided the YFZ Ranch in April. A hearing on any motions will be held May 13.
"Our belief all along is that law enforcement was never here looking for someone, it was an agenda," FLDS member and spokesman Willie Jessop told the Deseret News after court was over. "We were concerned about their motives before they ever even got in the gate."
The 439 children were returned to their parents in June, when two Texas courts ruled the state acted improperly. Only 15 children remain under court supervision in what was once the nation's largest-ever child custody case.
The phone call itself is believed to be a hoax. A Colorado woman with a history of making hoax calls is considered a "person of interest" in the case by Texas Rangers.
Rozita Swinton, 34, was scheduled to appear in a Castle Rock, Colo., court on Monday in an unrelated case. Swinton is facing a probation violation from a 2007 conviction of false reporting, where she pleaded guilty and received a deferred judgment. Last year, she was arrested in Colorado Springs in another case of making a phony call for help.
Court records show Monday's hearing in Castle Rock was postponed another month. Swinton's trial in Colorado Springs also has been delayed while she undergoes inpatient mental health treatment.
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
Comments
- Mitchell wants testimony excluded 1:36 p.m.
- Cleveland case expands overseas 1:27 p.m.
- Banks eye tight credit card terms 1:25 p.m.
- Prep girls soccer MVPs named 1:16 p.m.
- Iran accuses hikers of espionage 1:09 p.m.
- New bishop heads Lufkin LDS Church 1:03 p.m.
- Making health care better 1:03 p.m.
- Hall, Jorgensen honored by MWC 12:58 p.m.
- 'Start knocking heads' on healthcare 12:27 p.m.
- Pac-10 reinstates Oregon's Blount 12:25 p.m.
- TCU showdown has big implications
- Seniors helped BYU regroup
- Hope for single moms
- Lambert surprisingly tops news
- Bystanders framed for child porn
- Korver and Miles to be evaluated
- TCU 4th in AP poll; U. 16th, Y. 22nd
- Utah Jazz Extra: Whose hot/not
- Newhouse Hotel, an explosive end
- TCU moves into 4th place in BCS
- Gay advocates trek to LDS office
242 - House passes health care bill
211 - Lobo suspended
176 - Cougars crush hapless Cowboys
153 - TCU showdown has big implications
135 - Utah Jazz fall apart against Kings
130 - Thousands protest health bill
106 - Provo company innovating engines
105 - RSL rallies to advance
103 - TCU 4th in AP poll; U. 16th, Y. 22nd
99
Why do so many people live so close to refineries in Utah and elsewhere?
NASA's Stardust probe continues to bring new knowledge about the nature...
Well, I AM in his district, and he WON'T be getting my vote this time!
"Utah has fared well against TCU over the years. The Utes are 5-1 all-time...
Everyone needs to stop all the "hate" for PG. Up until this year, these...
Obviously Obama cares more about getting his big government programs in place...
and his office refused to say how he would vote and I was treated very rudely...
I am proud of jim matheson for voting no. People lets face it if the...
Re: Um.. "You are incorrect. There are computers that are immune to...
How refreshing.
Since Coach Whit is the class of the class, I wonder why Bronco didn't...
I am an old man, old enough to remember the wall going up and coming down. I...


You can be the first to comment on this story.