Sect prosecutions will be tricky
2008-06-25 09:29
San Angelo - A 16-year-old girl is a key witness in the state's effort to pursue criminal charges against members of her polygamist sect, even though she denies investigators' claims that she was abused.
The girl, a daughter of the sect's jailed prophet, says she's never been married and doesn't have a baby. She denies church elders are influencing her and wants to fire her lawyer. The state can't even prove her alleged abuse happened in Texas.
A court filing shows that the girl has been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury on Wednesday, the day the panel convenes in Schleicher County, home of a west Texas ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The Associated Press does not usually identify alleged victims of sex abuse.
Her attorney, Natalie Malonis, was also subpoenaed, according to Tim Edwards, an attorney for the girl's mother who is trying to have Malonis removed from the case.
It's unclear who else will testify. Grand jury proceedings are secret and the Attorney General's office, which is handling the prosecution, has declined to comment.
Seizure of over 400 children
The criminal case follows state child welfare officials' ill-fated April seizure of more than 400 children at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado.
The state accused the sect of widespread sexual abuse of teen girls, but the Texas Supreme Court forced the state to return the children from foster care in June. The high court said the state overreached in taking all the children from the ranch when only a handful of girls may have been abused.
It's not clear what, or whether, criminal indictments of FLDS members may result. But the girl scheduled to testify on Wednesday illustrates that to win indictments, prosecutors may have to overcome the denials of the teens they allege were abused.
The girl initially fought attempts by Malonis to finalise an emergency restraining order issued on Friday to force her mother to keep church elder Willie Jessop away from the girl.
Malonis said Jessop was influencing the teen and encouraging her to be unco-operative. The girl denies that and accused her lawyer in a letter to the judge of falsely claiming the girl was spiritually married at 15 and had a child.
The girl wants a new lawyer but agreed on Tuesday to allow the restraining order to stay in place another 90 days.
Asked whether she had any comment as she left the courthouse on Tuesday, the teen said, "What do I say, except that I'm sick of everything?"
Underage marriages won't be sanctioned
FLDS leaders have consistently denied there was any abuse at the ranch and vowed earlier this month not to sanction underage marriages.
FLDS spokesperson Rod Parker said he's not sure whether the girl will be co-operative in her grand jury testimony or whether other FLDS children have been subpoenaed to appear.
"If they're going to be asked to testify against their parents, that's a real dilemma," he said. "I don't know if they're going to be that co-operative."
Any criminal prosecution on sex charges is likely to be difficult. The state does have DNA material collected from most YFZ ranch residents to help them sort out family groups after the April 3 raid, and FLDS officials fear the evidence could be used against them in a criminal case.
- AP