Associated Press
Last updated: 1:42 p.m., Thursday, May 22, 2008
SAN ANGELO, Texas -- A state appellate court has ruled that child welfare officials had no right to seize more than 400 children living at a polygamist sect's ranch.
The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the grounds for removing the children were "legally and factually insufficient" under Texas law. They 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 the 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.
"Unless this ruling gets overturned on appeal, it looks like Texas authorities will be required to return most if not all of the children back to the compound and to their mothers sooner rather than later," said CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen. "And at that point I imagine there will be some sort of major investigation into how law enforcement officials could have blundered so massively, if indeed they have."
"The ruling from Austin comes in the midst of a hearing in San Angelo, Texas where state authorities seem to be having trouble proving many of the child abuse allegations that were made against sect members," Cohen added. "So on several different levels the law is now helping sect members and their children defend themselves against the state."
"The appeals court ruled that the state didn't prove that the children were in immediate danger when they were taken from the compound. But that's a different standard from the one the trial courts in San Angelo now are using to come up with individual custody plans for many of the children. So this is still a very fluid situation," Cohen said.
On Wednesday, Child Protective Services workers returned to the west Texas ranch of the sect in search of children they believe might have arrived since more than 460 others were seized in a raid last month.
Guy Jessop, standing guard at the main gate of the ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said two CPS workers accompanied by a sheriff's deputy asked whether they could enter the ranch to look for more children. Jessop said he denied them access since they did not have a search warrant.
CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said workers went to make initial inquiries and were conferring with law enforcement about how to proceed.
FLDS spokesman and attorney Rod Parker said CPS wil not be allowed on the ranch without a search warrant.
"As far as I know, there are no children, but I haven't searched, either," Parker said.
Meisner said she did not know how her agency came to suspect that children other than the 463 seized last month had arrived at the remote, 1,700-acre ranch in Eldorado.
The attempt to enter the ranch Wednesday underscores the confusion that has marked this case since CPS and Texas law enforcement entered the Yearning For Zion ranch on April 3, taking the children into custody on the belief that the sect forces underage girls into marriage and sex.
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Last updated: 1:42 p.m., Thursday, May 22, 2008
SAN ANGELO, Texas -- A state appellate court has ruled that child welfare officials had no right to seize more than 400 children living at a polygamist sect's ranch.
The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the grounds for removing the children were "legally and factually insufficient" under Texas law. They 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 the 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.
"Unless this ruling gets overturned on appeal, it looks like Texas authorities will be required to return most if not all of the children back to the compound and to their mothers sooner rather than later," said CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen. "And at that point I imagine there will be some sort of major investigation into how law enforcement officials could have blundered so massively, if indeed they have."
"The ruling from Austin comes in the midst of a hearing in San Angelo, Texas where state authorities seem to be having trouble proving many of the child abuse allegations that were made against sect members," Cohen added. "So on several different levels the law is now helping sect members and their children defend themselves against the state."
"The appeals court ruled that the state didn't prove that the children were in immediate danger when they were taken from the compound. But that's a different standard from the one the trial courts in San Angelo now are using to come up with individual custody plans for many of the children. So this is still a very fluid situation," Cohen said.
On Wednesday, Child Protective Services workers returned to the west Texas ranch of the sect in search of children they believe might have arrived since more than 460 others were seized in a raid last month.
Guy Jessop, standing guard at the main gate of the ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said two CPS workers accompanied by a sheriff's deputy asked whether they could enter the ranch to look for more children. Jessop said he denied them access since they did not have a search warrant.
CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said workers went to make initial inquiries and were conferring with law enforcement about how to proceed.
FLDS spokesman and attorney Rod Parker said CPS wil not be allowed on the ranch without a search warrant.
"As far as I know, there are no children, but I haven't searched, either," Parker said.
Meisner said she did not know how her agency came to suspect that children other than the 463 seized last month had arrived at the remote, 1,700-acre ranch in Eldorado.
The attempt to enter the ranch Wednesday underscores the confusion that has marked this case since CPS and Texas law enforcement entered the Yearning For Zion ranch on April 3, taking the children into custody on the belief that the sect forces underage girls into marriage and sex.
tinyurl.com/5emchz
tinyurl.com/5bj8ev
tinyurl.com/5qnxmc
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Re: Court rules against Texas child abductors
Thu, May 22, 2008 - 11:11 AMThe TX Child Abduction Agency should have made their case as to each child on an individual bases.
Invading a town because you think one or two or even 100 people are breaking the law and carting every one off is not democracy.
It is tyranny. -
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Re: Court rules against Texas child abductors
Thu, May 22, 2008 - 11:40 AMThe Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the grounds for removing the children were "legally and factually insufficient" under Texas law. They did not immediately order the return of the children.
tinyurl.com/6pzkro
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