Evidence from FLDS raid can be used in trials

SAN ANGELO, Texas — A Texas judge ruled Friday that prosecutors could use thousands of documents seized during a weeklong raid of a polygamist sect's West Texas ranch in upcoming criminal trials even though search warrants were prompted by faked reports of abuse.

Attorneys for sect men charged after the April 2008 raid had sought to have the documents — including family photos, records of multiple marriages and journal entries by jailed sect leader Warren Jeffs — kept out of their trials because they were obtained using search warrants that relied on false reports to a domestic abuse hotline.

The defendants argued law enforcement officials were looking for an excuse to raid the Yearning for Zion Ranch and did little to check the reports before rummaging through the ranch's homes and other buildings. Prosecutors disputed that claim, saying law enforcement officials believed the reports were real at the time of the search.

Texas District Judge Barbara Walther heard four days of testimony on the issue in May but didn't issue a ruling until Friday.

A dozen men from the Fundamentalist LDS Church have been indicted on charges including sexual assault of a child, bigamy and presiding over an unlawful ceremony. The first trial starts Oct. 26 in Eldorado, the tiny community where the ranch sits about 40 miles south of here.

FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop said he was disappointed but not surprised by the ruling. The defendants will use the argument for the basis of an appeal if convicted, he said.

"I have no doubt this thing will be ruled illegal in the long run," he said of the search.

The documents are not the only evidence in the case but could be a substantial part of the Texas attorney general's prosecutions. Jeffs' narratives seized from the ranch detail many of his instructions to sect members and daily activities at the ranch, including an allegation against the first sect man to face trial, Raymond Jessop, who pleaded not guilty to sexual assault of a child during a pre-trial hearing on Friday.