In a statewide poll of 314 people, 31 percent of Utahns said authorities were definitely justified in removing the children and another 31 percent believed the actions were probably justified; 13 percent of those polled believed the actions were probably not justified and 6 percent said they were definitely not justified. The poll has a 5.7 percent margin of error.

The poll also showed that 48 percent believe Utah officials do not do enough to prosecute crime inside polygamist communities, according to the poll. Only 7 percent said local law enforcement definitely does enough to prosecute and 30 percent believed they probably do enough.

Utahns appeared split on whether officials should prosecute polygamy without evidence of child abuse. Fifty percent said polygamy alone should not be prosecuted, while 41 percent believed it should.

In Texas, a third search warrant from a federal judge has since been signed, authorizing federal agents to search the ranch. Goldstein said the federal warrant is based on "evidence and information from information seized in these (first two) warrants."

The judge did not specify when the "return" listing the seized items should be made available.

Walther did determine Wednesday that parties of the FLDS Church, including Lyle Jeffs, Merrill Jessop and Isaac Jeffs, have legal "standing" to challenge the searches in court. Prosecutors argued that the men and the church had no such rights since there are no active criminal charges against them.

In a memorandum filed by FLDS attorneys, they argued that religious freedom rights had been violated when officers entered their sacred temple Saturday night. Attorneys said three men at the ranch were praying when officers "drug them out of the way to gain entry to the temple."

"Officers were also observed firing weapons into the woods on the northwest corner of the temple as they entered the temple gates" and made "forcible entry," the memorandum states. The attorneys also wrote that the officers didn't bother to see if children or adults were in the woods when they fired into the area.

After the hearing, FLDS attorneys declined to talk about the raid on the polygamist compound, despite dozens of reporters asking for the community's side of the story.

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Contributing: Aaron Falk
E-mail: bwest@desnews.com