TX FLDS Ranch Update

[memphismason]

SAN ANGELO, Texas - A state appellate court ruled Thursday that child welfare officials had no right to seize hundreds of children from a polygamist sect's ranch on April 3.

It was unclear how many children were affected by the ruling. The state took 464 children into custody, but Thursday's ruling directly applied to the children of 48 sect mothers represented by the Texas Rio Grande Legal Aide, said Cynthia Martinez of the agency.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the grounds for removing the children were "legally and factually insufficient" under Texas law. The ruling did not immediately order the return of the children.

Child welfare officials removed the children on the grounds that the sect pushed underage girls into marriage and sex and trained boys to become future perpetrators.

The appellate court ruled that a chaotic hearing held last month did not demonstrate the children were in any immediate danger, the only measure of taking children from their homes without court proceedings.

This week, the state began holding individual custody hearings across five courtrooms to determine whether the children would remain in custody, be returned to their parents or be subject to other arrangements.

Earlier Thursday, attorneys for Child Protective Services said 15 of the 31 mothers authorities had put in foster care as children have now been declared adults, including one who is 27.

Another girl listed as an underage mother is 14, but the state has conceded she is not pregnant and does not have a child.

The underage mothers had been cited as evidence that the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints committed widespread sexual abuse of girls.

In Texas, girls who are younger than 17 generally cannot consent to sex with adult men.

No one has been arrested or charged in the case.

The FLDS, which teaches polygamy brings glorification in heaven, broke away from the mainline Mormon church, which disavowed polygamy more than a century ago.

Sect leader Warren Jeffs, who is revered as a prophet, has been sentenced to prison in Utah for being an accomplice to rape in arranging a marriage of a 14-year-old follower to her 19-year-old cousin. He is awaiting trial in Arizona, where he is charged as an accomplice with four counts each of incest and sexual conduct.

Jeffs' lawyers want the incest counts dropped, arguing that prosecutors in Mohave County cannot pursue those charges along with the sexual conduct counts. A judge is considering the request.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[KahrMan]

I am keeping my mouth shut this time...

[Guest nraforlife]

Well at least they didn't have the compound burnt down around them...

[Guest Hooker]

From the title I thought this was a new harley.

[TripleDigitRide]

If we were talking about 1 or 2 children, the state would have taken a much different stance. Really, what is the State of Texas gonna do with 450 children? It would be a complete nightmare, and no one wants to deal with such a burden.

[analog_kidd]

Let me start of by saying I don't think that what went on there was right, and some of those people need to be locked up.

However, I think some families there were just trying to raise their kids in a certain way, diconnected from the crud that most are subjected to these days. Many of the kids had never seen a TV before. Then the state comes along and takes the kids, puts them in foster homes, where they are housed with other kids that have seen all the world has to offer, many of them with serious criminal records. Once innocence is lost, it can never be reclaimed.

If these families are reunited, much of what they were striving for may be lost.