FLDS challenge Texas search warrants
A pair of search warrants served on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch should be tossed because they were based on lies to a judge, lawyers for 10 FLDS men facing criminal charges claim.
In a phone book-sized motion to suppress filed in an Eldorado, Texas, court and made public Wednesday, the attorneys launch a full-scale attack on two law enforcement search warrants executed during last year's raid on the Utah-based polygamous sect's sprawling Texas compound.
"In short, it is clear that the authorities used a hoax phone call as an excuse for staging a massively intrusive raid upon a disfavored religious group," wrote Gerald Goldstein, an attorney for YFZ Ranch leader Frederick Merril Jessop. "Under the guise of looking for a man they knew was not there and a child that did not exist, the Texas authorities conducted a general search to see what they could find."
What law enforcement and child welfare workers found on the ranch led to the removal of 439 children over allegations of child sex abuse and criminal indictments against a dozen FLDS men — including sect leader Warren Jeffs — connected to underage marriages.
The case fell apart and the children were ultimately returned, however, when a pair of Texas courts ruled the state acted improperly and the children were not at immediate risk of abuse.
The highly anticipated court filing attacks the warrants on a series of fronts, including misapplications of Texas law and misstatements by law enforcement. The filings accuse Texas Rangers of deceiving Judge Barbara Walther about the origins of the raid when she approved the search warrants.
The raid on the ranch was prompted by a series of phone calls to a San Angelo, Texas, family crisis hotline by someone claiming to be a 16-year-old pregnant girl named "Sarah Barlow" who was being abused by her polygamous husband, whom Goldstein claims "Sarah" never named in any of the calls.
"In actual fact, after the caller refused to give her alleged husband's first name, it was the New Bridge operator, Jessica Carroll, who fed the caller the name 'Dale Barlow,' based upon a newspaper article Ms. Carroll located by Googling the name Barlow and FLDS," he wrote, adding that law enforcement knew the girl had never been treated at a hospital like she claimed, and Dale Evans Barlow, who was on probation for a sex offense, was living in Colorado City, Ariz., at the time they raided the ranch.
The phone call is believed to be a hoax carried out by a Colorado woman named Rozita Swinton, who is facing criminal charges accusing her of similar phony calls to authorities.
Recent comments
I've been following this since day one. My chief concern is that if...
Mike in VA | May 4, 2009 at 6:18 a.m.
Good its about time that the FLDS fights back. I am not part of the...
x | April 16, 2009 at 9:28 a.m.
well i have met some FLDS people. very nice, peacefull, differant....
Anonymous | April 15, 2009 at 9:17 p.m.
- Is glucosamine good for pain? 11:45 a.m.
- Old teapot has little value 11:43 a.m.
- Emerging from mental illness 11:41 a.m.
- Energy efficiency grants available 11:38 a.m.
- Party primped in under 10 minutes 11:37 a.m.
- State launches volunteer Web site 11:34 a.m.
- Two faucets better than one 11:31 a.m.
- White House ornament salutes past 11:28 a.m.
- Students, militia clash for 2nd day 11:27 a.m.
- IOC mulls cycling, tennis changes 11:24 a.m.
- Witness: Mitchell stalked victims
- BYU football: Bronco weighs in on Hall
- Williams' late jumper tops Spurs
- Yet again, we learn BCS is a big joke
- $2M error could mean layoffs
- Cougars in better mood about bowl
- Storm pounds Utah for 2nd day
- Ranking the bowl games
- BYU eager for crack at Oregon State
- TCU's BCS game missing something
- Y. profs: Beck not all-knowing
268 - TCU to play Boise in Fiesta Bowl
203 - Letters: Global warming a lie
182 - Cougars going back to Vegas
147 - Utah/BYU rivalry can be more civil
138 - George lost in rivalry hatefest
119 - BYU football: Bronco weighs in on Hall
113 - Ed Smart 'appalled' at testimony
100 - Harpring's NBA career is over
98 - Utahns want health care reform bills
83
For the latest news in the health care debate and how it affects you...
Amazon.com, Target.com, Sears.com, Walmart.com, Kmart.com and...
are opposed to anything and everything, so why is this a news story. The...
I work at a company that has no unions. Last year, the company cut the cost...
@jbra80 Good points. your comment on fez- Lets say fez is smoking, playing as...
Bronco comments were spot on. Does anyone remember the angry words leveled...
I heard him on KSL this morning. He made it sound like it was Jordan's fault...
1. Do the Mosquito abaitment people have to go in there anyway just to keep...
President Obama has hit the nail on the head. Where is the leadership of the...
"President Barack Obama has sharp criticism for Republicans, taking them to...
Not so sure | 9:55 a.m. I believe in theory that the left lane in a...
To all the people saying that Bronco should have said something long ago.......

