FLDS wife declines to answer questions at Texas hearing

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Barbara Jessop took the Fifth more than 50 times under intense questions from CPS lawyers Monday afternoon.

A wife of Merril Jessop, the leader of the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch in Texas, is fighting efforts by Child Protective Services to place two of her children back into foster care.

During questioning, a soft-spoken but stoic Jessop said that her 14-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son have been living with her in San Antonio since they were released from state custody two months ago. Asked if there was ever a time the children had stayed alone without her present, Jessop said, "I don't want to answer any more questions. I stand on the Fifth."

She repeated that throughout dozens of questions with the exception of one.

"Does a parent have a duty to protect their children from harm?" a CPS attorney asked her.

"Yes," Jessop replied.

She refused to answer dozens more questions posed at her, including whether Merril Jessop was the father of her children.

CPS attorneys called Carolyn Jessop, a best-selling author and one of Merril Jessop's ex-wives, on the stand. In dramatic testimony, she described her marriage and accused Merril and Barbara Jessop of abusing their children. She described "prayer times" where children were berated and scolded until they would cry.

"I remember them more as torture sessions than prayer," she said.

Carolyn Jessop described her former "sister wife" beating one of Barbara's children with a broom as the family sang, "When there's love at home" during a Sunday School session.

But under cross examination from Barbara Jessop's attorney, Carolyn Jessop acknowledged that her own 19-year-old daughter, Betty, went back to the FLDS Church sometime after Carolyn fled the church and the church's community in southern Utah.

She also acknowledged she saw Barbara do things that would be considered "good parenting."

Barbara Jessop's lawyer, Gonzalo Rios, suggested that Carolyn Jessop was testifying for publicity and money. Carolyn Jessop acknowledged receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars for writing the best-selling book "Escape" but noted that she has not been able to work for the past five years, having to care for her children.

Many of the incidents Carolyn Jessop described also happened nearly 20 years ago, Rios said.

"Have you ever hit your children?" Rios asked her.