BishopAccountability.org
	Juror Child's Illness Puts FLDS Trial on Hold after 4 Witness Testimonies By Brooke Adams The Salt Lake Tribune October 29, 2009 http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_13669155 Eldorado, Texas » Four witnesses testified about collection and handling genetic evidence in the state's case against Raymond Merril Jessop on Thursday when the hearing was suddenly halted with an announcement that a juror's child is sick and possibly has the H1N1 flu. Fifty-first District Judge Barbara Walther stopped proceedings around 2:45 p.m. and told the courtroom that the juror's child, who is under the age of five, is running a high fever and "may have swine flu." "We are in recess at least until the child is well," the judge said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people infected with the H1N1 flu are contagious from one day before getting sick to five to seven days after -- and the infectious period can be even longer in children. The CDC recommends that those who become sick with the flu stay home for at least 24 hours after the fever breaks. Walther said court will reconvene Friday at 10 a.m. without the jury that is hearing the case against Jessop, 38, who faces one second-degree count of sexually assaulting a child. With no victim alleging assault, the state's case leans heavily on documents and DNA to connect Jessop to the woman, who is now 21. The evidence was collected as part of last year's investigation at the Yearning for Zion Ranch, home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Five containers of that material -- from a Book of Remembrance to computer hard drives and photographs -- were introduced Thursday. Texas Ranger Sgt. Nick Hanna, the state's first witness, said he was at the ranch from April 3-9 in 2008 as law officers conducted an investigation based on a call for help that is now acknowledged as a hoax. Led by Deputy Attorney General Eric Nichols, Hanna verified that more than 50 exhibits the state plans to use during the trial came from the ranch and described how they had been handled since being seized. Using photographs projected on a large screen, he identified various buildings at the ranch -- including one log-home residence he visited on April 4, 2008. Hanna said he observed the alleged victim and four other women in the home. Hanna also used drivers license and birth certificate records to tell the jury that Jessop was 33 when he allegedly sexually assaulted the woman in November 2004, when she was 16. The state alleges that act happened at the ranch and that the girl later gave birth to Jessop's child. Hanna said on April 9, 2008, he went to Jessop's residence in San Angelo -- Jessop was not at the ranch at the time of the raid and apparently had a home elsewhere -- and took him to the Tom Green County Jail so a nurse could draw a blood sample from him. Hanna said Jessop was one of six men the state had identified as possible suspects in its then ongoing investigation. Defense attorney Mark Stevens objected to introduction of that blood sample information based on constitutional and Texas law violations, but was overruled by Walther. Sgt. Paul Horn, an investigator with the Texas Attorney General's Office, testified about taking genetic samples with a cheek swab from the alleged victim and her child in July 2008. A photograph projected for the jury showed Horn kneeling beside the little girl, swab in hand, as she clung to her mother's skirt. Diane Wilson, an investigator with the District Attorney's Office, described using cheek swabs to gather DNA from the alleged victim and her child in April 2008. John Schneemann of the Texas Attorney General's Office, testified about taking the DNA samples to a Department of Public Safety Office and then to the University of North Texas Health Science Center for analysis. Defense attorney Brandon Hudson objected to introduction of that evidence but, like Stevens, was overruled. He questioned Horn, Schneemann and Wilson about how the blood and cell samples were stored. The witnesses described keeping the samples in locked file drawers for days to months, in some cases with other samples, before they were sent for analysis. The samples taken from the mother, child and Jessop, they said, were in clearly marked and dated envelopes. After the hearing, FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop said that there had been several mix-ups of DNA evidence collected from sect members by state officials, but wouldn't say whether that happened in this case.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.