Christian or Biblical Polygamy

Raymond Jessop, Texas Polygamist Sect Member, Guilty Of Sex Assault

joshuah — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:45:27 +0000

The first polygamist sect member to face criminal trial following last year’s raid at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in West Texas was convicted Thursday of sexually assaulting an underage girl with whom he had a so-called “spiritual marriage.” Raymond Jessop, 38, didn’t visibly react when the verdict was read after just more than two hours [...]

Warren Jeffs’ attorneys say state ‘mixed and matched’ law

joshuah — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:24:04 +0000

Jeffs’ defense attorney Walter Bugden Jr. told the justices that a charge of illegal marriage against Jeffs would have been more appropriate than an accomplice to rape charge because Jeffs never intended for the pair to engage in non-consensual sexual intercourse. He asked the justices to return to the definitions of the law, arguing that while [...]

And speaking of Texas…Prosecutor says he can’t charge father because Texas law lets parents view porn with children

joshuah — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:13:45 +0000

Slightly off topic, but relevant to the whole Texas FLDS debacle, don’t you think? A 1970s-era Texas law that allows parents to show “harmful material” to their children has come under fire after a prosecutor said he couldn’t file charges against a man accused of forcing his 8- and 9-year-old daughters to watch hardcore online pornography. Randall [...]

Trial for FLDS member interrupted

joshuah — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:06:37 +0000

The child sexual assault trial of a polygamist sect member came to a screeching halt just before 3 p.m. today because a jurist’s child may have swine flu. Judge Barbara Walther sent the jurors home and told her bailiff to tell the jurors the court would call them in the morning. Walther, 51st Judicial District judge, announced [...]

Prosecutor drops bigamy charges against Yisrayl Hawkins

joshuah — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:04:35 +0000

Bigamy charges against West Texas sect leader Yisrayl Hawkins were dismissed Thursday after the leader of the House of Yahweh pleaded no contest to four cases involving child labor violations. Hawkins was scheduled to go on trial Nov. 9 in Weatherford after 42nd District Judge John Weeks granted a change of venue from Callahan County earlier [...]

FLDS defendant’s argument rejected

joshuah — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:28:06 +0000

In this case, evidence from journals belonging to FLDS’ jailed prophet Warren Jeffs indicates that Jessop had a child with an underage bride in 2005. Jeffs would not let church members take the girl to a hospital when she was in labor. “All through the afternoon and evening I was in contact with (the YFZ Ranch), [...]

Judge whittles FLDS jury pool

joshuah — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:28:00 +0000

Give Kleist’s Der Zerbrochene Krug a read. The judge in a child sexual assault trial that is receiving media attention from as far away as England and France was optimistic late Monday that she’d be able to dismiss many of the more than 150 members of a jury panel soon after their return at 9 a.m. [...]

FLDS trial to start

joshuah — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:09:01 +0000

Hopefully this trial will be over soon, and we can get on with the trial of the real criminals in this case: The State of Texas and it’s cronies. The first criminal trial following the April 2008 raid on the FLDS ranch in Texas begins Monday in Eldorado, Texas. Raymond Merril Jessop, 38, is charged with [...]

B.C. to take polygamy doubts to court

joshuah — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:01:49 +0000

The British Columbia government will not launch an appeal after criminal charges against two polygamist religious leaders were recently thrown out of court. Instead, Attorney-General Mike de Jong said yesterday he will ask the B.C. Supreme Court to clarify the controversial polygamy laws, and rule on whether they violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The decision [...]

Polygamist Sect Focus of Rare Trial in Texas Town

joshuah — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:58:46 +0000

Attorneys on Monday will begin culling the largest jury pool ever called in Eldorado to try to find 14 people in a county of 2,800 who can set aside what they have heard about a polygamist sect whose alleged marriages involving underage girls triggered a police raid that swept more than 400 children into state [...]

Canadian prosecutor to ask province’s supreme court to settle polygamy question

joshuah — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:31:18 +0000

The attorney general of British Columbia said Thursday he will not appeal a court ruling that quashed prosecutions of two polygamous leaders. Michael de Jong said he will, however, ask the province’s supreme court to settle a conflict between the criminal code and the country’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms on polygamy. Section 293 of the criminal [...]

Homes in polygamous community in jeopardy because of tax liens

joshuah — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:23:43 +0000

Uh huh… Unpaid property taxes have put control of more than 150 homes in a polygamous community in jeopardy and more may soon be at risk — part of a growing financial crisis that has reignited a rift between sect members and a court-appointed overseer. Investment interests in 35 large, communal properties that are part of the [...]

EEOC Nominee signed ‘Manifesto’ that Praised Polygamy

joshuah — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:19:59 +0000

A law professor nominated by President Obama to become a commissioner for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was a signatory to a radical 2006 manifesto which endorsed polygamous households and argued traditional marriage should not be privileged “above all others.” Georgetown University Law Center professor Chai R. Feldblum, nominated as a commissioner for the Equal Employment [...]

Arkansas DHS vaccinates 36 children with swine flu vaccine against parents objections

joshuah — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:26:50 +0000

Should anything negative befall these children as a result of their H1N1 or Gardasil vaccinations, the State will not be liable. In a radio interview with Greg Szymanski on September 30, Cheryl Barnes founder of CPS Legal Watch, revealed that the State of Arkansas has given 36 children the swine flu vaccine against their parents’ [...]

Survey finds increase in Utah’s polygamous population

joshuah — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:39:04 +0000

An new informal survey by a Utah-based polygamy advocacy group estimates 38,000 people believe in or are living the practice – an increase of about 1,000 in about two years. The survey by Principle Voices includes adults and children in polygamous and monogamous families who consider themselves fundamentalist Mormons. The last survey was conducted in 2007. Source/Full [...]

Bountiful misconceptions

joshuah — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:23:40 +0000

Prof. Campbell is one of the few outsiders — and a secular, inquisitive, intellectual one at that — to have a well-informed opinion of the place, based on first-hand observation and experience. She has enjoyed direct, almost unfettered access to the women of Bountiful.…Preconceptions she had before her trip to Bountiful were shattered. The results of [...]

Winston Blackmore comments on the court decision

joshuah — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:15:33 +0000

Is there anything you would like to say about the Court decision yesterday? Only to say that I am thankful for this win. I thank God, and I thank Joe and Bruce and their team. I thank all the people that have called in their support. I thank Blair, John, Chuck, and the host of [...]

Polygamists seek decriminalization of their lifestyle

joshuah — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:11:26 +0000

Pro-polygamy activists want to see bigamy, at least among consenting adults, decriminalized. “If adults have chosen this lifestyle for themselves and it’s all about creating families and there’s no underage marriages or abuse, I see no reason why it can’t be decriminalized or legalized,” said Anne Wilde, one of the founders Principle Voices, which sponsored Friday’s [...]

Canadian Judge Dismisses Polygamy Charges against Blackmore and Oler

joshuah — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:27:07 +0000

The Globe and Mail Madam Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein found that the former attorney-general of B.C. had unfairly gone “special prosecutor shopping” when he ignored the advice of two prosecutors and kept searching until one was found who wanted to press charges. By doing so, Judge Stromberg-Stein said, the attorney-general “upset the critical balance that … should be [...]

Yisrayl Hawkins seeking change of venue

joshuah — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:24:56 +0000

Attorneys for House of Yahweh leader Yisrayl Hawkins, set to stand trial for bigamy, argued for a change of venue during a pretrial hearing in the 42nd District Court in Baird Wednesday. During the hearing, Hawkins’ attorneys presented the results of a poll taken in mid-August from 511 residents in Callahan, Taylor and Coleman counties, part [...]