BishopAccountability.org
	FLDS: Court Victory but No Closer to Home KXAN May 27, 2008 http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=8380629&nav=menu73_2 SAN ANTONIO, Texas (KXAN) - Joseph and Lori Jessop are grateful to be one of three couples out of the West Texas polygamist compound who could be reunited with their young children last week. When the news first broke last week it was unclear why a dozen of the 440 children had been singled out to be returned to their families. Now it appears these children were the ones specified in the motion that was filed in state district court in San Antonio, the same motion that the Third Court of Appeals used to rule that the seizure of the children was unjustified. The Jessops were reunited with their three children on Friday. The couple said the incident has scarred their three young children emotionally. One child also was taken to a local hospital while in the state's care. "It was so comforting to hold them and to take them out put them in the car and know that we were going to stay with them that night," father Joseph Jessop said. The couple also believe the raid was a form of religious persecution. Joseph Jessop said he remains convinced the state would not back off its case, no matter what evidence the couple might have presented that they were monogamous and their children were not abused. Corpus Christi Attorney Rene Haas, a former state district judge, is the Jessops' attorney. "I see every indication that CPS wants to keep these children," Hass said. "And I see every indication that they want to destroy the religion." For weeks, residents of the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado — all members of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints — have insisted Texas officials had no right to seize the children from the ranch. Last week's appeal court ruling in the compound's favor — and the widespread media campaign that the YFZ members have been willing to participate in — has appeared to turn some media attention in the compound's favor. In an article in Tuesday's Christian Science Monitor, for instance, the newspaper speculates whether religious beliefs were sufficient grounds for the raid. The state has alleged that a number of young girls on the YFZ Ranch — girls younger than the state's age of consent — were forced into sexual relationships with older men. All children were removed, officials said, because it is typical procedure to remove all children from a family when an allegation of sexual abuse is raised. The Third Court of Appeals ruled the state had insufficient evidence. The state - specifically, the lawyers for Children's Protective Services — have appealed the Third Court of Appeals' ruling to the Texas Supreme Court. Now it's up to the Texas Supreme Court to consider the merits of state's case on whether the children are in danger. The Jessops said their ordeal has made them the target of taunts. Lori Jessop said most of the scorn came when the children were first seized; that's not so much the case now. Even though some of the taunts have died down, the Jessops said they still aren't close to their goal: The right to return to their private lives back at the YFZ Ranch.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.