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Child Protective Services can keep custody of infant born to polygamist sect
May 28, 2008
Robert T. Garrett - The Dallas Morning NewsIssue date: 5/22/08 Section: Real News
SAN ANGELO, Texas _ Child Protective Services can keep in its care an infant born to a polygamist sect member this month, a judge ruled Tuesday.
The temporary agreement approved by state District Judge Barbara Walther averted a second day of testimony at a custody hearing and led CPS to cancel plans to introduce more evidence of possible child sexual abuse by the sect's leader and perhaps other men.
Last week, the agency released several photographs, including one showing sect leader Warren Jeffs holding a 12-year-old girl he purportedly married in July 2006 and kissing her on the lips. Jeffs was convicted in Utah for pressing a minor girl into a "spiritual marriage" and faces similar charges in Arizona.
"They were publicity stunts by CPS," sect attorney Rod Parker said about the photographs introduced into evidence on Friday.
He denied that the fundamentalist Mormon sect backed Tuesday's agreement to prevent more graphic evidence from being introduced at the hearing.
Parker said the infant's parents, Louisa Bradshaw Jessop and Dan Jessop, decided not to keep fighting for the child's release, because a Texas Supreme Court decision affecting all 450 or so sect children removed by CPS from the sect's West Texas ranch is expected shortly.
On Tuesday, the Jessops signed an agreement with state lawyers, saying that the 12-year-old girl shown with Jeffs lived in the same building with the couple at the sect's Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado, Texas.
Jessop acknowledged that the girl is his sister. Both are children of Merrill Jessop, a high-ranking figure in the sect.
CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins said: "It's clearer than ever that children were at significant risk of sexual abuse at the ranch. We were prepared to present that evidence to the court today."
Crimmins declined to speculate on whether the couple backed off their demand for immediate release of their infant son to avoid more revelations in open court.
The temporary agreement approved by state District Judge Barbara Walther averted a second day of testimony at a custody hearing and led CPS to cancel plans to introduce more evidence of possible child sexual abuse by the sect's leader and perhaps other men.
Last week, the agency released several photographs, including one showing sect leader Warren Jeffs holding a 12-year-old girl he purportedly married in July 2006 and kissing her on the lips. Jeffs was convicted in Utah for pressing a minor girl into a "spiritual marriage" and faces similar charges in Arizona.
"They were publicity stunts by CPS," sect attorney Rod Parker said about the photographs introduced into evidence on Friday.
He denied that the fundamentalist Mormon sect backed Tuesday's agreement to prevent more graphic evidence from being introduced at the hearing.
Parker said the infant's parents, Louisa Bradshaw Jessop and Dan Jessop, decided not to keep fighting for the child's release, because a Texas Supreme Court decision affecting all 450 or so sect children removed by CPS from the sect's West Texas ranch is expected shortly.
On Tuesday, the Jessops signed an agreement with state lawyers, saying that the 12-year-old girl shown with Jeffs lived in the same building with the couple at the sect's Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado, Texas.
Jessop acknowledged that the girl is his sister. Both are children of Merrill Jessop, a high-ranking figure in the sect.
CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins said: "It's clearer than ever that children were at significant risk of sexual abuse at the ranch. We were prepared to present that evidence to the court today."
Crimmins declined to speculate on whether the couple backed off their demand for immediate release of their infant son to avoid more revelations in open court.
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