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	Victim Won't Testify; Charges vs. Polygamist Dropped By Jim Seckler Daily News February 27, 2007 http://www.mohavedailynews.com/articles/2007/02/28/news/local/local4.txt Kingman — The trial for one of three remaining Colorado City polygamists charged with having a sexual relation with an underage girl suddenly ended Tuesday with his charges being dismissed. Randolph J. Barlow's bench trial before Superior Court Judge Steven Conn resumed after a six-month delay. Barlow, 33, was charged with two counts of sexual conduct with a minor. Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith dismissed the charges against Barlow saying the victim, who refused to testify when she first took the stand six months ago, still refuses to testify or even answer his questions. Smith said if she was subpoenaed and even jailed she still would not testify. He did not want to jail the victim in the case so he was forced to drop the charges. Unlike the previous trials of Barlow's codefendants, the victim, who was under age at the time of the crime, did not give birth to a child and there was no other evidence that Barlow had sexual conduct with her. Barlow and seven other codefendants belong to a controversial polygamist sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Colorado City. Two remaining codefendants still have upcoming jury trials. One defendant already accepted a plea agreement, charges against another were dropped, one defendant was acquitted and two defendants were convicted. Of the remaining codefendants awaiting trials, Dale Evans Barlow, 49, is charged with one count of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. No date has been set for his trial. Rodney Holm's jury trial is set for March 20. Holm, 40, is charged with three counts of sexual conduct with a minor. Vergel Bryce Jessop, 47 is expected to be sentenced March 22. He pleaded no contest Dec. 18 to an undesignated charge of child abuse. David Romaine Bateman, 49, was convicted in October of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. He was sentenced to nine months in state prison and must register as a sex offender. Kelly Fischer, 39, was convicted of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. He was sentenced to 45 days in county jail and probation. In September, a Mohave County jury acquitted Donald Robert Barlow, 50, of one count of sexual conduct with a minor. Charges against Terry Darger Barlow, 25, were dropped in October. He was charged with one count of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. The church's leader, Warren Jeffs, 51, currently faces rape charges in Utah.
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