Warren Jeffs Takes Another Shot at Removing Walther, by Matthew Waller, The Standard-Times, July 7, 2011

Warren Jeffs Takes Another Shot at Removing Walther

By Matthew Waller
The Standard-Times
July 7, 2011

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2011/jul/07/jeffs-takes-another-shot-at-removing-walther/

A new attorney for Jeffs, who faces charges of sexual assault, said the judge is biased.

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Warren Jeffs, the head of the polygamy-endorsing Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has hired one attorney and fired another in the process of taking a second try at recusing Judge Barbara Walther, who is set to preside over his upcoming trial.

Jeffs removed his lead attorney, Jeff Kearney of Fort Worth. Kearneyfiled a motion to withdraw as an attorney Thursday afternoon.

Jeffs has gone through several attorneys since arriving in Texas after being extradited from Utah, firing counsel that he retained the same day and replacing a court-appointed attorney, all after about a month of saying he could not find an attorney.

A motion filed July 1 by his new attorney, Emily Detoto of Houston, calls for the removal of Walther.

Detoto said she was contacted last week by her new client and wrote the motion with input from Jeffs, who is scheduled to go to trial on charges of sexual assault of a child on July 25.

Jeffs is being held without bail in the Schleicher County Jail, where he was moved after spending several months in the Reagan County Jail awaiting trial following his extradition in November.

Schleicher County staff said no hearing has been set for the motion, and the state has not filed a reply to the defense's motion.

There are "crucial facts and/or pertinent questions that are left un-answered as to Judge Walthers' ability to sit as a neutral and detached jurist," the new motion states. The motion misspells the judge's last name often throughout.

The motion states Walther was warned of FLDS " 'enforcers' ... although the FLDS and Mr. Jeffs have no history, at all, of violence, but to the contrary have been the victims of persecuting zeal of both religious and political bias since the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed through Joseph Smith, Jr.," therefore making Walther biased in her fear.

Another argument in the motion is Jeffs' motion to suppress some evidence that doesn't have much chance of prevailing because Walther signed the search warrant that led to the raid on the FLDS Yearning for Zion Ranch in April 2008. The raid yielded evidence in criminal trials of FLDS men and led to charges such as bigamy and sexual assault of a child.

Jeffs' motion also complains that Walther moved the trials to Tom Green County, where an FLDS member received the longest prison sentence — 75 years — meted out to the seven FLDS members who have been prosecuted.

The FLDS member with the shortest prison sentence, six years, after trial also was tried in Tom Green County.

Walther also approved the removal of more than 400 children from the ranch during the raid, but an appellate court later ordered the children to be returned to their families.

"The judge's unwillingness to follow the Supreme Court's ruling, and instead attempt to impose extra return-conditions surely gives the appearance that Judge Walthers harbors a bias or prejudice against Mr. Jeffs and the FLDS," the motion states.

The motion also contends Walther told the former head of the Children's Advocacy Center of Tom Green County that she had heard of reports of child abuse at the YFZ Ranch, indicating possible bias.

The first hearing of the motion to have Walther removed was on June 13, with eight witnesses appearing before visiting state District Judge John Hyde of Midland. Hyde denied the motion for recusal.

Walther has presided over the prosecution of seven FLDS members, who have gotten sentences ranging from six to 75 years in prison for crimes that include bigamy and sexual assault of a child.

Jeffs' attorneys focused mostly on two types of assertions: that Walther believed FLDS members had made an attempt on her life and that her mannerisms in court suggested bias against the FLDS defendants.

The defense said increased security around Walther stemmed from a time when an "FLDS type truck," as one former FLDS member attorney described it, pulled out in front of Walther's vehicle.

The state argued the increased security was not Walther's decision.

Other attorneys argued the judge's facial expressions of exasperation and a time when she looked up at the ceiling during the trial suggested she was prejudiced against the defense. Walther has said she tilted her head back because she had a sinus headache.

Jeffs also has filed a motion to suppress evidence, but the motion has been sealed, Schleicher County court staff said.

Walther has said she wants to leave the motion to suppress until after the jury is seated.