Texas Appeals Court Upholds FLDS Member's Conviction, Search of Yfz Ranch, by Ben Winslow, Fox 13, August 25, 2011

Texas Appeals Court Upholds FLDS Member's Conviction, Search of Yfz Ranch

By Ben Winslow
Fox 13
August 25, 2011

http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-warren-jeffs-texas-appeals-court-upholds-flds-members-conviction-search-of-yfz-ranch-20110826,0,5010729.story

AUSTIN, Texas— An appeals court has upheld the conviction of a member of the Fundamentalist LDS Church's conviction on sexual assault charges.

The ruling against Michael Emack also essentially upheld the controversial search warrants served on the FLDS Church's sprawling ranch near Eldorado back in 2008. Law enforcement raided the Yearning for Zion Ranch based on a phone call from someone named "Sarah Jessop Barlow," purporting to be a 16-year-old pregnant girl who was married to a much older man. The phone call was a hoax.

Emack, an FLDS member who pleaded no contest to charges related to a polygamous marriage, sought to have his conviction overturned based on the fact that the search warrant was a hoax. In its 22-page ruling upholding Emack's conviction and denying his appeal, the 3rd Court of Appeals said Emack failed to show he had a "reasonable expectation of privacy that was invaded."

"Appellant's challenges to the manner in which the DFPS obtained the order are not based on any allegation that the conduct complained of violatd appelant's asserted privacy interests or that the interviews were a fruit of a violation of those interests," the court wrote in its opinion.

Justices also ruled that the search of the ranch did not violate FLDS members' First Amendment right to freely practice their religion.

Law enforcement raided the YFZ Ranch, taking more than 400 children into state protective custody. The same court of appeals ruled the children should be returned to their parents because the state of Texas failed to present sufficient evidence that all of the children needed to be removed while a child abuse investigation was conducted.

Emack is one of a dozen men facing criminal charges related to underage marriages in the aftermath of the YFZ raid. FLDS leader Warren Jeffs was recently convicted by a jury in Texas on charges of child sex assault, stemming from his "marriages" to a pair of underage girls. He is currently serving a life sentence, plus 20 years, in prison.