Jeffs' daughter among 5 dropped from Texas case

The custody battle over the children from the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch is winding down rapidly, with only three children left under court oversight.

One of the most hotly fought custody cases is closer to ending. In a filing in a San Angelo, Texas, court on Monday, Texas Child Protective Services asked a judge to "nonsuit" 17-year-old Teresa Jeffs, the daughter of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs.

"The Court orders the suit affecting the parent-child relationship as it relates to Teresa Jeffs, a child, as to the action filed by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, dismissed," Judge Barbara Walther wrote in an order obtained by the Deseret News.

A CPS spokesman declined to speak about the dismissal, saying the agency does not talk about specific cases. Jeffs' court-appointed attorney, Natalie Malonis, said the case was not over, however.

Malonis filed a counter-petition in January, seeking to place restrictions upon Jeffs — including appointing her mother and CPS as joint-managing conservators of the child, restricting her to live in Texas, and seeking financial support from the United Effort Plan Trust, the real-estate arm of the FLDS Church.

"I'm hoping to settle all this," Malonis told the Deseret News on Monday.

She is in the midst of a courtroom spat with FLDS members and their lawyers after deposing YFZ Ranch leader Frederick Merril Jessop and FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop, who both invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in depositions involving her child client. A judge has yet to rule on whether they can be compelled to answer her questions. A hearing is scheduled Friday to deal with their request to seal the depositions.

"It's difficult to even evaluate the risk to my client because there's so little information about how the group works and who controls what," she said. "Maybe if I had that information it might be clear to me that she's fine in the situation she's in. I'm not asking for anything real drastic. I'm not."

Teresa Jeffs was allegedly married to Raymond Merril Jessop when she was 15 and he was 34.

Teresa Jeffs sought to have Malonis replaced, saying her attorney was not acting in her best interests. Malonis sought a restraining order against Willie Jessop, accusing him of intimidating her and pressuring the girl to be uncooperative.

The judge refused to remove Malonis and signed a restraining order telling Jeffs' mother, Annette, to keep her daughter away from Jessop.

Malonis said she was served Monday with a new filing by Jeffs' mother, Annette, seeking to replace Malonis and accusing her of not doing what is in Teresa Jeffs' best interest.