Warren Jeffs' influence evident in FLDS hearings

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Warren Jeffs may be incarcerated in an Arizona jail, but his influence among his followers is front and center in Texas courtrooms thousands of miles away.

The issue of the Fundamentalist LDS Church prophet's continuing influence played out in court today before Judge Barbara Walther in a case involving Jeffs' own brother, Seth Steed Jeffs. The brother and his wife, Kathryn, have seven children in state custody scattered across Texas in four different facilities.

In today's hearing, the attorney representing Seth Jeffs objected to the state's prohibition that forbids children and family members to even mention Warren Jeffs' name while in the foster facilities.

"To prohibit the mentioning of a name doesn't protect the children," argued Carl Kolb.

Child Protective Services attorney Ellen Griffiths disagreed, saying that when Warren Jeffs is exalted as the leader of the faith, it becomes problematic.

"When he's held up as an example of what a man should be, then these children are at risk. He's been convicted on one charge of a sex offense with a minor and is facing other charges," she said.

Religion and the rights of FLDS faithful to worship freely dominated the hearing — one of many hearings scheduled over the next three weeks designed to determine whether the 464 children taken from the YFZ Ranch will eventually be reunited with their parents or not.

The attorneys for Seth and Kathryn Jeffs repeatedly stressed Tuesday that the vague family service plan recommendations could run counter to FLDS beliefs. As an example, Nancy Delong — who is representing Kathryn Jeffs — said the service plans call for the parents to follow "any and all" recommendations made by counselors as a result of required parenting classes and/or psychological examinations.

"My client could be asked to denounce Jesus Christ and worship Thor," Delong said.

Delong applied a similar hypothetical scenario to possible medical outcomes as a result of the required examinations. Because her client's children are "yon and hither" across Texas, she said it's very possible her client could be depressed. She added her client wasn't depressed, but if that should hypothetically happen, perhaps the state would order her to take anti-depressants.

She said her client could hypothetically be construed as bipolar because she's laughing one minute "and crying the next ... but the only reason she's crying is because all of a sudden she remember's it's Matt's birthday." Matthew Jeffs is one of the couple's children in state custody.

"I don't want my client to be forced to take psychotropic medications," she said.