There was a status conference today in Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints v. Bruce Wisan, et al, 2:08-CV-00772, in the Federal District of Utah, Judge Dee Benson presiding.

This is a 42 U.S.C. 1983 case (Civil Rights) that basically claims that the State of Utah violated the rights of the plaintiffs under the U.S. and Utah Constitutions in Utah Judge Denise Lindberg’s ruling on the United Effort Plan Trust.

First, the plaintiffs allege that the fact that bigamy was used in the ruling makes the case invalid since the prohibition against bigamy is an unconstitutional infringement on their rights.  This is clearly not the case, see Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1878), which established that laws of general application and neutral in nature must be obeyed, regardless of religious motivation.

Second, the plaintiffs allege that the trust could have been reformed without destroying the other, legitimate religious purposes.  Here, the plaintiffs could have a case (not that it will matter as we will show below).

In defense, what Jeff Shields and the other UEP attorneys should raise is the following:

Estoppel by acquiescence.  This is a principle of the law of equity that basically states that if a party has notice of a legal claim, but fails to respond or act in a reasonable time, that they are accepting the situation and is estopped (or barred) from later making a claim or challenge.  In this case, the members of the FLDS had notice of the reformation of the trust, but made a conscious decision not to respond, the famed “answer them nothing” policy established by Warren Jeffs.  See Georgia v. South Carolina, 497 U.S. 376 (1990).  This is clearly established precedent, being listed in approximately 1,000 U.S. Supreme Court decisions.  See also Utermehle v. Norment, 197 U.S. 40 (1905), one who receive benefits for a period of time, cannot, years later, challenge it later, especially when others have relied on the fact that he had not challenged it in a timely manner.  See also Mile High Industries v. Cohen, 222 F.3d 845 (10^th Cir. 2000).

Laches.  Very similar to estoppel by acquiescence, adding only the reliance of the other party on the finality of the judgment or action, or who were damaged by the delay.  Simply put, the FLDS do not have clean hands here.  They have intentionally delayed any timely challenge and cannot now benefit from their own delay.

Identification of Plaintiffs.  First, an informal “association of members” do not have standing to bring a suit.  Terry Goddard has brought this up in his Motion to Dismiss Arizona from the case, and I won’t repeat his argument here.  Suffice it to say, under Rule 10(a), Fed.R.Civ.P., the plaintiffs must be identified by name.

Hopefully, when this goes to a hearing or trial, Shields and company will focus on the proper area – that Willie Jessop and company cannot just make up the rules as they go, and their time to present their claims is past.

Hello world! Isn’t life grand?

I awake to a neighbor above my neighbor screaming and fighting for her life.  As I mentioned I live in an apartment complex that I hate.  I hear fighting all the time.  As I laid there listening to the bloody screams and thumps from the ceiling.  I covered my head with the blanket and could still hear it as I waited to hear a gun shot.  I thought to myself I could leave the apartment and go wondering upstairs and down the hall to see where the screams were coming from so that I could call the police.  Then I thought Oh Yeah! then I would get shot or have to identify myself to the cops when they arrive.

I said to myself “Shit” I can’t do a got damn thing but listen to it.  So I choose not to help someone again today.  Just like every other neighbor in this damn apartment building.  Why do we do it?  If someone was kicking the shit out of a dog or cat outside hell we would call the cops in a heart beat.  What the fuck is wrong with us in this world? Where are our priorities?  There fucked up actually. I let myself down today by choosing not to help someone who needed help.

My hats off to the people in the world who have the balls to report and stand up to abusers and pedophiles.  I read a story this week about the FLDS and how there was a man on trial for child abuse who was found guilty and given 33yrs. It felt good to read good news about a Perv getting what he deserve.

I don’t know if you recall but in April of 2008 a phone call was made to report these sick bastards on a ranch who were forcing young girls to marry as early as 14yrs.  What sick fuck does that?  All in the name of religion ha ha what a crock.  My hats off to the person who made the phone call now they had balls the balls I wish I had today as my neighbor was getting the shit beat out of her.

I do not know you neighbor but I too wish you had the courage to leave that fucker. You deserve more as you are a beautiful woman.

Allan Keate, having been found guilty, is now going through the punishment phase of his trial.

Keeping in mind that the jury looked upset when evidence was introduced showing that he married off his three underage daughters to FLDS men, what do you think that he will get?

Well, as been reported numerous other places, Keate was found guilty of the Sexual Assault of a Child in trial #2.  He was immediately taken into custody.

In taking a moment to reflect, I thought these songs might be appropriate.

Enjoy…

UPDATED

Per suggestion of Anon E. Mouse… thanks

Dear Network:

We have been following this trial for some time.  The FLDS grab all the headlines with their pedophilia and blundering balderdash with spokesman Willie Jessop so glad to talk to the media, and the women of Centennial Park extolling their idea of the “virtues” of polygamy, but the second largest polygamy group, the Apostolic United Brethren, stays under cover; except for John R. Llewellyn who has been writing about them since he left the cult many years ago.  If you have been following along with this trial, here is the latest installment. If not, go to John’s website www.polygamybooks.org THANK YOU, JOHN!  Virginia Hill’s story is tragic as is all women who escape the bonds of polygamy!

From: John R. Llewellyn [mailto:jrllewellyn@apcomp.com]
Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 3:27 PM
To: nmereska@mcsnet.ca
Subject: Hill vs. AUB

Nancy, this is the latest update in my blog, www.polygamybooks.org, we are finally, after 20 years,  getting into the pocketbook of Apostolic United Brethren, the second largest polygamist group. We still have a couple of million dollars more to go before justice is finally served.

HILL VS. AUB, JENSON, ET. AL., UPDATE

Dec. 10, 2009, Fourth District Court, Nephi, Utah, Judge Donald J. Eyre presiding

Plaintiff Hill’s first motion asked that the appeal bond monies deposited by the Defendants be released and ascribed to the judgment owed by the Defendants. After both sides expressed their arguments, Judge Eyre granted the motion. The release of funds amounted to several hundred thousand dollars.  The money will be used to pay expenses incurred, especially appellant fees.

The Plaintiff’s second motion addressed the question of augmentation in view of the Supreme Court Ruling.  The judgment or award to Hill must be augmented to reflect the double damages because of the racketeering and the second Assignment of Trust Deed that was overlooked by the District Court.  And then there is the interest and attorneys fees that must be factored in. Judge Eyre said he would issue a ruling within two weeks.

After the proceedings started about 20 AUB men filed into the courtroom led by high priest apostle, Ron Allred.  Shortly after that a uniformed deputy sheriff appeared at the court entrance and stayed until the proceedings were over.  He was obviously summoned as additional security, a sensible precaution.  But the burly AUB men, except for the dour expressions on their faces, behaved like gentleman.

During the proceedings Virginia whispers to me, “I feel sorry for the AUB members who will have to foot the bill for the criminal conduct of their leaders.”

I could tell she was sincere, and I thought, she was more empathetic towards the AUB people than they were towards her.  The defendants, especially Matthews and Putvin had done all they could to sully Virginia’s reputation, and the majority of the AUB people believed their lies.

It is interesting that after all the damaging evidence that was submitted to the courts and after two Supreme Court Appeals, members of AUB still make excuses for their leaders “pattern of criminal activity.”

According to reliable informants Owen Allred wanted to initiate a settlement with Virginia and put the matter to rest before they went to court.  But apparently, J. LaMoine Jenson and his priesthood henchman overruled Owen — according to the informant. Had they done what Owen wanted it would not have cost AUB nearly as much money, not to mention the ignominy and shame it has brought on AUB and its leaders.

The report we get from inside AUB is that the priesthood council, behind closed doors, want to continue to fight and drag things out.  It is easy for them to do because the money spent to drag the inevitable out doesn’t come out of their pockets.  If the AUB people want to save what is left of AUB’s reputation they should rise up and display their disgust and shock, and demand that their leaders do the honorable thing.  AUB is not being lead by God or Jesus Christ, it is being led by the selfish genes of J. LaMoine Jenson and his priesthood lackeys.

There are a few current members who apparenty believe that LaMoine as a leader is greater than Owen.  After knowing them both when I was part of AUB, and watching how they conducted themselves during the investigation and trial, in my opinion, Owen had more integrity in his little finger than LaMoine has in his entire body.

The criminal conduct and intransigence of LaMoine and his priesthood sycophants have manipulated the AUB members into believing it is their duty to serve the priesthood rather than the other way around.  The AUB laity, whose pockets the leaders will eventually empty, can therefore feel lucky that during the trial the Plaintiff’s attorney did not fully convince the judge that the theft was an AUB enterprise.  The defense made it look like it was a Putvin/Matthews enterprise.  However the facts are Owen made Matthews a bishop to oversee the dispersing of the stolen 1.5 million.  Matthews recruited Jeff Norman to launder $500,000.00 back into AUB via J. LaMoine Jenson.  During the laundering episode, which was only one facet of the entire enterprise, the bulk of the money sat in Owen Allred’s closet.  In other words, the two Assignment of Trust Deeds were tools in which to transfer a half million dollars in currency to AUB’s checking account.  The Judge mistakenly ruled that the Assignment of Trust Deeds represented AUB’s actual damages when it should have been 1.5 million.

When the IRS and Sheriff’s Office started investigating Norman and the money laundering, according to Putvin, Matthews and Owen panicked and Owen told Putvin, “Get it (the currency) out of here,” meaning his house.  When Norman was sacrificed (went to prison) and the heat was off, Owen and Matthews wanted the money back.  Putvin told them to “stick it.”  Putvin the stole the money from AUB and took over the used car lot (Diamond Automotive Specialties, Inc.) which was also suppose to be an AUB enterprise, fronted by Jim Sandmire.

AUB has tried several legitimate businesses and they all have failed.  They tried stealing Virginia’s 1.5 million and that didn’t work out either.  The only thing they are good at is merchandising plural wives and a phony promise of a celestial exaltation.

I know there are some good, well-meaning people in AUB.  I hope that someday they will build up enough tenacity to clean up their corrupt priesthood or get out.

Well, it looks like the FLDS has lost another motion, although the judge did say he was taking it under advisement.

There was a hearing today in Kingman, AZ on the motion to depose Sam Brower and Dan Fischer by Mike Piccarreta.  While Judge Conn did not rule, he did state from the bench his initial impression was that both individuals had answered all the relevant questions.

It doesn’t appear to me that Pic will be taking any depositions…

Does that mean that he doesn’t get to harass the witnesses any more?

Shame…

Jury selection is under way in the case of the State of Texas v. Allen Keate for Sexual Assault of a Child in the First Degree.  According to the Eldorado Success, fewer than half of the 300 individuals summoned for the jury panel remain.

Also interesting is the presence of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott in the courtroom, indicative of the importance that the State is placing on this trial.

Keate is represented by Abilene attorney Randy Wilson, while the State is represented by Deputy Attorney General Eric Nichols.  Last month, Nichols obtained a conviction in the case of Raymond Jessop, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a Second Degree felony.  The punishment range in the current case is 5 to 99 years or life in prison, and Keate has more significant bad acts.  The State’s notice including the fact that Keate turned over three of his underage daughters to FLDS men to be ‘spiritually’ married in bigamous relationships, which resulted in their subsequent sexual assault.

This is just a brief update on the status of things FLDS across the various arenas:

Texas – Friday was supposed to be Goldstein et al hearing on the defense motion to quash the grand jury indictments because there weren’t enough Hispanics. Goldstein asked for a continuance of his own hearing because it was supposed to snow and one of the other defense attorneys had a nail appointment or some other alleged conflict. The motion for continuance was denied. Then Goldie filed a motion to recuse judge walther for the hearing on the Hispanic motion — he knows he’ll lose, but once a motion to recuse is filed the judge cannot take any further action until the recusal is ruled on. So Monday will be the motion for recusal and the Hispanic motion. Both will be denied. The Hispanic hearing might take more than one day because Goldstein is long winded and can’t get to the point. Keate’s trial should start Tuesday or Wesnesday.

Arizona– still no trial date for Warren. I think Matt Smith is waiting for him to die. December 11 is a hearing on Pic’s motion to further harass Sam Brower and Dan Fischer. The motion has been opposed by several attorneys but the State didn’t respond at all. Might be interesting.

Carolyn Jessop has withdrawn as a witness because Matt Smith won’t keep Pic at bay. Smith has apparently not yet informed Pic because now Pic has filed a motion to take Carolyn’s deposition claiming she is being uncooperative even though she’s given him two interviews already and produced all of her contracts and financial documents.

Did I mention there’s still no trial date?

Utah– awaiting a decision on Warren’s appeal to the Utah Supreme Court.

Willie has filed a petition for extraordinary writ with the supreme court, claiming to he the “duly authorized representative” of the FLDS Church and seeking to have the trust property “returned” to the FLDS. The UEP responded. Willie’s petition will be denied.

Lyle’s and the City’s interventions were appealed all the way to the supreme court where they were denied again.

The Berry Knoll sale is pending I believe.

Rod Parker was previously disqualified from representing anyone against the UEP but the supreme court stayed the order disqualifying him. Now the supreme court lifted the stay and gave him 30 days to file the right pleading. The 30 days has expired. Maybe he got an extension.

Leroy Jeffs as executor or Rulon’s estate and the FLDS Corp (i.e. Warren Jeffs) have filed a motion to intervene, a motion to vacate the reformed trust and a motion to remove Wisan. Rod Parker’s in on this one. The claim is that tRulon was the only settlor of the trust and his intentions can somehow be gleaned from beyond the grave — the whole legal argument is flat out wrong and factually wrong as well. The other argument is that the judge should not have reformed the trust but let it terminate instead and revert to the FLDS Corp as the sole remainder beneficiary. Anyone know if Warren is still the President? These suits are going nowhere also. Likely the judge will rule they do not have standing and even if they did they’ve waived their right to participate by waiting four years after a final judgment. Next ….

More Arizona– Wisan’s criminal trial for conspiracy to commit trespass (!!) is scheduled for later this month but will likely be delayed. Rumor has it Pic is participating as the “victim” attorney. Apparently Arizona has some constitutional amendment that allows victims to participate like a party in criminal trials. So big shot Michael Piccaretta makes an appearance on a misdemeanor case in JP court for the “victim” — uh huh, nothing to see here, move along ….

Incidentally, the judge was disqualified and replaced with a non-biased judge. Isaac Wyler’s conviction is going through motions for new trial and appeals.

What did I miss?

Well, boys and girls, Goldie is at it again, with just about as much chance of success as last time.

This time, he has filed a Motion to Recuse the Hon. Judge Barbara Walther from hearing the Motion to Quash the indictments of the FLDS Dirty Dozen.

There’s only one problem with it. (Well, there are more than one, but this is the big one).

The motion to recuse was not timely filed.

Oops.

Tex. R. Civ. P. 18a states:

At least ten days before the date set for trial or other hearing . . . , any party may file with the clerk of the court a motion stating grounds why the judge before whom the case is pending should not sit in the case. The grounds may include any disability of the judge to sit in the case. The motion shall be verified and must state with particularity the grounds why the judge before whom the case is pending should not sit. The motion shall be made on personal knowledge and shall set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence provided that facts may be stated upon information and belief if the grounds of such belief are specifically stated.

Rules of Civil Procedure, although they do not normally apply to criminal cases, do so in regards to recusal.  See Arnold v. State, 853 S.W.2d 543 (Tex. Crim. App. 1993), which states that Tex. R. Civil P. 18a does apply to criminal cases and that failure to comply with the ten-day requirement waives any right of appeal on recusal.

In the present case, Goldie and company filed the MTQ over a month ago, but they just now figured out that they need to make a MTR?  And it’s not timely to file it the day of the hearing, or three calendar days before the trial.

This will probably be heard by another judge, who will rule that it was not timely filed.

And Judge Walther will be back on the bench…

Hearing the motion and the case…

Shame…

Documents the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a polygamist religious sect on the Utah/Arizona border headed by Warren Jeffs.

Via DocChannel

Here, Warren attempts to discredit expert witnesses Carolyn Jessop, Rebeckah Musser, and Richard Holm.

Then on page 10, the motion basically says the LDS is just like the FLDS but “no longer follows its founders’ belief in the practice of Polygamy”.

Then the motion says the witnesses dont know the difference between the LDS and the FLDS and have “no special training” (ha ha ha).

Oh, I’m sure they have had LOTS of “special training”!

Dear Network:

Dr. Susan Stickever’s research that has been flowing into and out of this computer for the past two weeks, SHINES in this interview by Daphne Bramham.  I have highlighted in red bold some paragraphs, but just read, read, read.  This is a great article giving hope to those who want the boil called polygamy to be lanced.

I can attest to the health harm done to women in confined religious situations.  Just the thought of being “the first wife” to preside over all my Mormon husband’s celestial concubines made me sick.  I could not discuss this horrible belief with him.  Any question I had threatened my marriage and my membership as a mainstream Mormon.  I saw other women such as myself, converts who had married dyed-in-the-wool Mormon men.  In the end, I was fortunate to have had only three children.  Other women were saddled with 6, 8, 10 children!  They would take to their beds of depression, as I would, at times.  There was no way out for them.  They had babies because some man in Salt Lake City said they should, not because they wanted them!  Older children were made to be parents more than I want to discuss.

Another horrible thing with the mainstream Mormon temple ceremony is that your name is taken away and you are given one first name.  My name was changed to Edna, the name my husband would use to call me from the grave on the morning of the first resurrection (a woman cannot get into heaven without a Mormon priesthood man calling her from the grave!)  My apologies to anyone on this network named Edna, but I truly do not like that name.  I have always loved my name.  How dare they take it away under religious pretense!!  My name is Nancy.

When a woman’s mind and body is placed into a religious prison, it is worse than death.  Perhaps that’s why in the 20 years of my sojourn in mainstream Mormonism, I knew 7 suicides!

Thank you, Daphne!  Thank you, Dr. Susan Stickevers.

From: Info-Secte [mailto:infosecte@qc.aibn.com]
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 6:53 AM
To: Info-Secte
Subject: Bramham: The hard evidence of polygamy’s damage is bountiful

Bramham: The hard evidence of polygamy’s damage is bountiful

By Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun

November 15, 2009

B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Bauman has taken it upon himself to be the one who rules on the ground-breaking constitutional case involving polygamy when it goes to trial sometime next year.

Bauman, who was appointed in September, will decide whether polygamy is a justifiable limitation on religious freedom. Regardless of what he decides, it’s almost certain that this case will be appealed first to the B.C. Court of Appeal and then the Supreme Court of Canada.

Lawyers for both the B.C. and Canadian governments will argue that polygamy should not be allowed because of its inherent harm to women and children.

So, before the case even gets to trial, Bauman will have to decide whether to appoint someone to argue that the practise of polygamy is protected by the guarantee of religious freedom.

Until six years ago, the B.C. government held the view that the polygamy law was unconstitutional. As a result, for more than a decade it refused to lay charges against fundamentalist Mormon leaders in Bountiful.

The province’s about-face gives some idea of how controversial and difficult the case is likely to be.

In law, harm doesn’t have to be imminent. In two disparate cases — Malmo-Levine, where the criminal offence of marijuana possession was upheld, and a child pornography case involving Vancouverite John Robin Sharpe — the Supreme Court of Canada said it was enough that both generally cause harm.

Still, government lawyers need to show harm. They might start by looking at the medical research.

Dr. Susan Stickevers, an assistant clinical professor and residency program director at State University of New York with a longstanding interest in ensuring that polygamy remains criminalized, is certain the evidence is there.

Based on her reading of more than 50 peer-reviewed studies, she doesn’t buy the argument that polygamy is a justifiable religious or cultural practice.

“When there is evidence of damage to women and hurt to children, we don’t have to tolerate it any more than we would tolerate suttee [a woman burning to death on her husband's funeral pyre] or infant sacrifice,” she said in a telephone interview.

Stickevers’s interest in polygamy was first piqued in the mid-1980s when several of her students were “Sullivanians,” followers of psychiatrist Henry Stack Sullivan who forced them to sleep with one another on a rotational basis.

But it was only 12 years ago that she began to study the research when a patient’s health suddenly declined after her Muslim husband took a second wife. Since then, Stickevers has had a number of Muslim plural wives as patients. Their experiences mirror the research conclusions: Polygamy is bad for most women, particularly the first or senior wives.

The focus of the peer-reviewed studies varies widely — Hmong people who immigrated to the American Midwest in the 1970s, fundamentalist Mormons, Bedouin Arabs, Nigerian Christians, African animists, Muslims in the United Arab Emirates.

Of those studies, 90 per cent conclude that women suffer some harm. The harm ranges from low self-esteem to mild depression to significant psychiatric problems.

Of the studies of children in polygamous families, 70 per cent found they are more likely to have poorer academic performance, greater behavioural problems and more difficulty adjusting in social situations compared to children of monogamous families.

The studies suggest it’s because the families are poorer, less educated and more prone to marital conflict and family violence.

There is also general agreement that polygamy is a risk factor for both incest and abuse.

All of the studies examine what is more properly called polygyny since worldwide, polygamy is almost exclusively men with multiple wives and not women with multiple husbands.

The largest study of children in polygynous families was done in 2008 by Alean Al-Krenawi of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, who has done more research on the subject than anyone else.

He and his colleague Vered Slonim-Nevo surveyed 352 Bedouin Arab children in Grades 7 to 9. Of those, 174 were from monogamous and 178 from polygamous families.

Children from polygamous families had higher levels of chronic and persistent pain with no identifiable physical origin, obsession compulsion, depression, interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation (a milder form of paranoia) and psychosis.

They also had significantly more problems in peer relationships, significantly poorer relationships with their fathers and lower school achievement than did those from monogamous families.

Their study concludes with an indictment of polygamy.

They warned of a “bleak future for children from polygynous families . . . The many difficulties these children suffer may lead to a sense of hopelessness and cause them to seek other activities (e.g. pleasure-seeking). Furthermore in adolescence and adulthood, these difficulties may put them at risk for delinquency, drug abuse and unemployment.”

Further on, they write, “[P]olygyny may be seen as a detrimental model for marriage not only for the children of polygynous families but also for Bedouin Arab and Israeli societies as a whole.”

Al-Krenawi’s research suggests the average polygamous family has five more children than the average monogamous one. But there are outliers like Bountiful leader Winston Blackmore, who has more than 100.

Unsurprisingly, children spend less time with their polygamous fathers. Children of the less-loved wife or wives suffer most and, usually, they are the children of the first wives whose marriages were arranged and not the subsequent wives whose marriages are often love matches.

Two studies done in the United Arab Emirates found that fathers spent less than two hours a week with the children of their first wives. They also spent considerably less or nothing at all on gifts, education and health care for the first-family children.

In many cases, schooling and health costs were left to the first wife, who either had to get a job to support the children or had to rely on older children to help out financially.

The one study notes that this contradicts the Koranic verse about polygamy, which says: “Marry women of your choice two or three or four, but if you fear that you shall not be able to treat justly with them, then only one. . . That will be more suitable to prevent you from evil.”

Poverty is not only the result of polygynous families being larger. Several studies concluded that the fathers’ educational levels are significantly lower than those of monogamous men. In a 2000 study, Al-Krenawi noted that the father’s level of education was inversely related to the number of children and wives.

Oddly missing from all of the studies, however, is the most obvious harm of all: The simple arithmetic of polygyny denies many men the possibility of ever marrying and having children.

dbramham@vancouversun.com

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Bramham+hard+evidence+polygamy+damage+bountiful/2223717/story.html

Dear Network:

We welcome to our vast global network, Dr. Sheila Jeffreys, Professor of Politics at the University of Melbourne.  She is writing a book about some of the ways in which religious arguments are being used in opposition to women’s rights; and, wants to argue that polygamy presents very serious harm to women.  She proposes that a law be written that would decriminalize polygamy for women as for the most part they are victims while making it a criminal offense for men.  If any of our legal authorities can help Dr. Jeffreys with any research or suggestions, email:

sheila  @  unimelb.edu.au

And, from New York:

Attached please find two research papers sent to us by Susan M. Stickevers, MD, who is a member of the newly formed Board of Directors of Americans Against the Abuses of Polygamy, www.TripleAP.org , TripleAP  @ gmail.com Dr. Stickevers teaches medicine at SUNY Stony Brook.  She has been feeding us research that this campaign has been longing for since it started!  Following is a profile of this marvelous woman:

Susan Stickevers, MD, of Long Island, New York is an assistant clinical professor at SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine. She received her MD degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, and her Bachelors Degree in Biology summa cum laude from Queens College. She completed her residency training and served as chief resident at Columbia University Medical Center in NY City. She developed an interest in the study of polygamy while treating Muslim women in polygynous relationships in New York City.

Polygyny is a risk factor for cervical cancer, HIV, and sexually transmitted diseases.
See the latest article on the topic which is attached.

Polygyny Increases Risk for Cervical Cancer.pdf

Polygyny_and_Womens_Health.pdf

Dear Network,

I’ve put in bold an interesting fact.  Raymond Jessop was her second “spiritual” husband.  Look at her age when she was “reassigned” to him.  This means she was Raymond’s brother’s “spiritual” wife at the age of 14.

They just can’t bring this cult down fast enough to suit me!

From: Info-Secte [mailto:infosecte@qc.aibn.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 6:54 AM
To: Info-Secte
Subject: 10 years for polygamist sect member in sex assault

10 years for polygamist sect member in sex assault

(AP) – November 10, 2009

ELDORADO, Texas — The first polygamist sect member to face criminal trial following the raid of a West Texas ranch was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for sexually assaulting an underage girl with whom he had a so-called “spiritual marriage.”

Jurors who last week convicted Raymond Jessop, 38, handed down the sentence that includes an $8,000 fine. His attorneys had sought probation for the conviction that could have brought him up to 20 years in prison.

Jessop, who prosecutors allege has nine wives, still faces a separate bigamy charge to be tried later. He is the first member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to go on trial since authorities raided the sect’s Yearning For Zion Ranch in April 2008.

The girl in the assault case, now 21, was previously in a spiritual marriage with Jessop’s brother before being “reassigned” to Jessop when she was 15, according to documents seized at the ranch. She became pregnant at age 16.

An appeal, planned “as quickly as it can be filed,” will challenge the search warrants initially obtained with what authorities now acknowledge were false calls to a domestic abuse hot line, said Willie Jessop, an FLDS spokesman and Raymond Jessop’s distant cousin.

“We believe he will be released when the government is held accountable,” Willie Jessop said in an interview Tuesday.

The weeklong ranch raid was hounded by missteps early on. After scouring the ranch for days in April 2008 in search of a caller who claimed to be an abused girl, law enforcement acknowledged “Sarah Barlow” didn’t exist.

Forensic experts who testified during Raymond Jessop’s trial said there was a nearly 100 percent probability Jessop fathered the now 4-year-old daughter of the woman in the case. The woman was on the prosecution’s witness list at trial, but did not testify.

Eleven other sect members, including its jailed leader Warren Jeffs, still face separate trials for charges ranging from failure to report child abuse to sexual assault and bigamy.

The FLDS is a breakaway sect of the mainstream Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago and does not recognize the FLDS.

Jeffs, revered by the FLDS as the group’s prophet, has been convicted in Utah as an accomplice to rape. He awaits trial in Arizona on charges related to underage marriages there. He’ll then face separate sexual assault and bigamy charges in Texas.

Jeffs led followers six years ago to buy a 1,700-acre Texas ranch, where they built a towering limestone temple and sprawling log cabin homes. They remained an insular group until Texas authorities raided the ranch and swept 439 sect children into foster care.

Appellate courts forced the return of the children to their parents or other relatives, but documents seized in the raid were used to build criminal cases against sect men.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hBU8uyQITnik8O4KnPAr1aXka0PAD9BT1RK80

My Camera Editorial Advisory Board comment published on April 19, 2008, in response to the Camera’s question: More than 400 children were taken from a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ranch in Texas by armed officers with a warrant seeking an underage girl who had alleged she was being abused by her 50-year-old husband. Officials separated more than 100 children over 5 years old from their mothers, who returned to the compound. Hundreds of younger children remain off-site with their mothers. Do you think Texas officials overreacted in the raid, and are they justified in keeping the children away from their mothers?

If you look at the situation in Texas as a call from one underage girl alleging abuse from her 50-year-old husband, Texas officials overreacted by bringing out officers armed in SWAT gear to rescue her. However, the FLDS live much differently than others in their walled-off community. In those ways, Texas officials compared them to the Branch Davidians. Since Davidians fought back with firepower and would rather have been taken dead rather than alive, I do not fault officers for coming prepared for trouble. I credit the FLDS leaders for not escalating the confrontation.

I agree with the top priority Texas officials had for entering the FLDS ranch — concern for one child and any others in danger. By Texas law, they removed all the children on the ranch. Life there seemed so intermingled, all children seemed at risk. Keeping these children away from their mothers as well as their fathers until proven safe to return them is wise.

Nevertheless, I urge Texas officials to cause as little harm as possible themselves in their protective services processes and give the children as much comfort as possible. It’s unfortunate but also a protective that foster-care certification takes time. No matter how well-meaning an individual or group may be, they cannot try to step in the legal processes.

Raymond, when and if he is granted parole, will be subject to a number of conditions, as pointed out by Brooke Adams.  If he violates any of these conditions, it triggers a parole revocation hearing and an arrest warrant.  Some of these conditions are mandatory when the parolee committed an offense against someone younger than 17.

These conditions will include (mandatory):

• Participation in a sex offender treatment program until the treatment provider is satisfied that treatment is no longer required.
• Not reside with a person under the age of 17 unless a legally recognized child of the offender.
• Not be involved with dating, marriage, or a platonic relationship with anyone under 17 or with children under 17  unless approved in writing by the parole officer.
• Not participate in programs that include participants who are under the age of 17.
• Not go within ____ distance of places where children under the age of 17 commonly gather, such as schools (including private or home schools, like the FLDS school), playgrounds, youth centers, etc.  The distance is set the Parole Board and is typically 1000 feet.

These conditions will likely include (not mandatory):

• Not communicate with the victim by any means.
• No unapproved volunteer activities.
• No unapproved attendance or employment at any school or college.
• No pornography.
• Must submit to lie detector if directed by parole officer.
• No leave the approved county of residence without permission.
• No computer equipment without approval.  Computers must be equipped to be monitored by the parole officer.  Submit to a search of the computer at any time.
• No cameras or video recorders.
• Notify any employer about criminal history.
• Abide by curfew.
• Submit to a search of home, vehicle or person at any time.

What this all means is that if Raymond is paroled, he is not going to be living on the ranch (too many children), won’t be able to contact Janet in any way, and will have everything that he does monitored.  He will basically be exiled from the community until his parole is up.

Raymond Merril Jessop, having been found guilty of the Sexual Assault of a Child, was sentenced by a jury to 10 years in prison.  Current law requires that he serve at least 5 years to be eligible for a parole hearing.  In Texas, sex offenders typically serve 80-85% of their sentence before being paroled, so he is looking at about 8 years.

Second, the Parole Board is not going to look kindly on a convict who does not: 1) take responsibility for the commission of the crime; 2) does not show remorse; and 3) claims religious persecution.  They are entirely within their rights to deny parole, and likely would under those circumstances.

Third, Raymond is still facing State v. R.M. Jessop part II., a Bigamy charge, which, dependent on the age of the girl on the date of the offense is either a 2nd or 1st degree felony.

If convicted on that charge, that sentence will normally be served consecutively with the current sentence and he is not eligible for parole until the entire first sentence is completed.

He’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

Religion helping idiots to abuse people for thousands of years… that’s what religion was made for.
Everywhere you look it’s the same thing.. look at the catholic church.. if it’s not money, it’s rape.. or WAR, fighting over who has the best imaginary friend, who has the best book.. blah blah blah

It’s been a while since I did one of these, folks, but in the spirit of OMGYAYIT’SFRIDAYSQUEEEEE I decided to do another post of all the goodness on the internet you should be checking out.  Sharing is caring.

• Senator Al Franken’s streak of awesome (sticking it to rapist contractors, going after insurance companies) continues with two of my favorite things: SOLDIERS AND PUPPIES (ok, service dogs).
• In other awesome news, Jon Stewart’s spoof of Glenn Beck is a must watch.
• Ever wonder what it would be like if you suddenly had a real life musical moment, where everyone sings and dances? Found out via Gizmodo about the latest stunt from the Improv Everywhere people I saw an episode of This American Life about:
• Apparently some curmudgeon without a soul over at Vanity Fair doesn’t like CUTE. I say: he clearly just needs some cuteoverload to warm his cold black heart. Or perhaps FUpenguin is more up his alley, like this image, entitled “beavers think they are so f***ing clever”:
• Want more cute? BABY TURTLES FROM SEA WORLD.
• My friend Political Party Girl and I were chatting and somehow got on the subject of Mr. Rogers. She linked me to this YouTube video of Mr. Rogers testifying before Congress in support of PBS funding, and I swear, my response to Mr. Rogers is almost Pavlovian. I hear his voice and suddenly I’d like to sit down and be still, while munching on some graham crackers, and just hang out with him.  On days when the news is mostly terrible, I need the “what do you do with the mad that you feel” song that he sings at the end more than ever.
• I could probably devote an entire post to the tragic massacre at Fort Hood. Here are a few good pieces to check out: Steve Benen at The Washington Monthly gives the straight facts; Spencer Ackerman of The Washington Independent posts a statement from an Arab-American Military organization and reminds us not to jump to Islamophobic conclusions; Glenn Greenwald at Salon shows us just how misinformed we’d be if we had relied on live TV reporting of the massacre, which he describes as “an orgy of rumor-mongering, speculation and falsehoods that play a very significant role in shaping public perceptions and enabling all sorts of ill-intentioned exploitation.”
• Justice served: one of the Yearning For Zion polygamists has been convicted of sexual assault and faces up to 20 years in prison.
• Anne Lamotte is wonderful. Her letter to the president about health care reform could have been written by me, as I agree with every word.
• Speaking of health reform, would the House bill put children’s health care at risk?

Religion, helping crazy fuckers to abuse people for centuries.

More

Texas FLDS Compound On Its One-Year Anniversary: The Lessons We Must Learn to Effectively Protect Children in the Future

By MARCI A. HAMILTON

Thursday, April 16, 2009

This month marks the one-year anniversary of the valiant attempts by Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) to save the child sexual-abuse victims in the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) group situated at the Yearning for Zion (YFZ) Ranch outside Eldorado, Texas. In this column, I’ll take stock of related events since then, and explain the lessons they teach. The authorities’ concerns were triggered by a call to a hotline, and confirmed when they entered the compound to discover a significant number of underage mothers – who were, plainly, victims of statutory rape — and clear evidence of bigamy involving underage persons, a first-degree felony in Texas. Not only did CPS have clear visual evidence of these crimes, but it also had written recordsshowing that girls had been married off to much older men, even after those men had taken other spouses, and some disturbing pictures, including one particularly disgusting one of their prophet, Warren Jeffs (who is now in jail on other charges), passionately kissing a 12-year-old girl who wassitting on his lap.

The promise of the YFZ raid to free oppressed children, though, was never fully realized. All of thechildren but one has been returned. As I discussed in a prior column, the Texas appellate courts bear much of the responsibility. They refused to back up CPS’s actions, because they discounted the claims that girls had been victims of statutory rape, if those girls were over the legal age of consent at the time of the raid. The courts’ reasoning was offensive to victims of statutory rape, and made a mockery of Texas criminal law. It was also just another moment when the interests of child sex- abuse victims were trivialized for no good reason.

One Aspect of the Raid that Was Not Widely Covered: CPS Was Simply Following Its Usual Procedures

Most Americans were fascinated by the FLDS/CPS story as it unfolded, but many did not know that CPS’s actions were actually not out of the ordinary, though the context was extraordinary. As with any ordinary child-abuse investigation, once the authorities had clear evidence of abuse (in this case, of statutory rape and child bigamy), they took into custody all of the children who were sharing the same living conditions as the alleged victims, and who, therefore, were also at risk. CPS really had no choice but to bring out all of the children, because many of the adults and children lied about their ages and relationships, and because the FLDS compound was much like a commune wherein family lines and relationships were blurred. It was obvious that the child brides were part of a lifestyle that was being imposed on all of the children, and that not only were the girls at risk of rape, but the boys were also at risk, for they were being groomed to perpetuate the situation – groomed, that is, to be law-breakers. By some measures, the State’s actions were the most promising step forward yet for the numerous victims within the FLDS. (To get a sense of the depth of the organization’s problems regarding children, read Flora Jessop’s recently-published book Church of Lies.) Twelve of the men from the compound have been indicted for perpetrating child sex abuse, aiding such abuse, or failing to report it.

Before those indictments were issued, the most any prosecutor had achieved was to indict a single man from a compound at a given time, and such indictments rarely happened. Essentially, the FBI and the state Attorneys General had simply looked the other way in the states where compounds existed. The FLDS group made it difficult to investigate its crimes of abuse and abandonment of children by living in insular communes, and the authorities found it easier to co-exist with the illegal behavior than to try to stop it.

Thanks to CPS, however, we now have official documents that record the behavior of the FLDS that put children at serious risk. CPS pursued its investigation professionally, and released what should have been a shocking report detailing the problems discovered within this group, including approximately 25% of the pubescent girls being subjected to statutory rape and child bigamy. Unfortunately, the report barely made the national newspapers.

These are extraordinary developments for victims and justice, and CPS and the Texas system (despite the appellate courts there) deserve credit for taking us this far.

The Appallingly Wrong Decisions by the Texas Courts – and the All-Too-Familiar Public Relations Strategy by the FLDS Group

The Texas appellate courts were as wrong as CPS was right. Essentially, the appellate courts told the girls to just get over it. Sadly, the court decisions were part of our general culture’s deep instinct to wish away the suffering of the children living among us. As a factual matter, the evidence conclusively proves that children who have been sexually violated by adults do not simply “grow out of it.” To the contrary, their victimization radically alters their horizons forever. And not only did the Texas decisions dismiss children’s suffering – suffering that may well last a lifetime – but it also laid the groundwork for the return of the children to the compound, even if CPS lawyers believed that there were strong legal grounds to terminate parental rights.

Defense attorneys celebrated the destruction of CPS’s cases, and added their voices to the FLDS public relations machine, which issued a steady drumbeat of criticism of the state. The public relations strategy was to portray the adults as the “real” victims; to deflect attention from the rape, bigamy, and abuse by loudly demanding vindication of the adults’ alleged rights to religious liberty (rights that were no license to break the law); and to flood the media with images of defenseless FLDS women in pastel dresses pining for their beloved children. The media followed suit; for example, the Today Show repeatedly hosted gaggles of FLDS “couples” to talk about their suffering. There were no hard-hitting questions; there was just clucking on the part of Meredith Viera.

The FLDS’s public relations attack was actually standard operating procedure for any religious group that finds itself on the other side of the law: Such groups — as we have learned from the Catholic Church’s and other religious groups’ child-sexual-abuse scandals — almost always use religion to seek to transform the adults into the “real” victims, so that the viewer’s attention is no longer on the children. They count on what I call “adult preferentialism,” that is, the tendency of adults to exaggerate their importance and to treat children as far less valuable. It is also common practice for them to shout ”persecution,” regardless of the fact that they are being charged with serious crimes, and to present an angelic face to the press. In this culture — saturated with trust for religion — this can be a pretty good strategy, unless you are the child. Then, it is disastrous.

The Texas appellate decisions at least left open the door for CPS to do investigations that would produce evidence to justify holding onto individual children, and CPS investigators did just that. But the vast majority of the children were quickly “non-suited” and returned to the compound. It is obvious that there was pressure either from the press, or from Austin, or both to shut down the case quickly. A year later, we are learning that there were serious differences of opinion within CPS over the return of the children. Some are heartbroken over having to let the children return to the FLDS and others are so demoralized by the failure of CPS to protect the children, they have quit. One attorney, Jeff Schmidt, quit last week and was quoted as saying, “We had some serious differences of opinion based on applicable law and what was in the best interests of the children. We completely failed to protect those children. That’s my opinion.” Another attorney quit as well. These attorneys were both willing to go forward on parental-termination claims for a significant number of the children, because they thought that the evidence supported the termination, but the Department rejected their recommendations. There are also reports of CPS workers who cannot get the sight out of their minds of FLDS children resisting being returned to the FLDS adults, often only posing as parents. Some had to be pushed toward the adults; many of them had already been separated from their birth parents long before. YFZ was for the upper class of FLDS members and for children identified for their abject obedience to authority, their Aryan genetic traits,and as future wives for the leadership. Many of the children were sent to Texas,then “given” into new families,according to Flora Jessop, who recently met with Texas authorities about the case. No matter how often the FLDS winds up its PR machine to declaim that the separation was horrific for the children, the fact is that seeing the outside world, riding bikes, and eating pizza, may have been the best thing that ever happened to these children.

So how does the system permit children to be returned to living within an entrenched culture, for which there is documentation that 25% of pubescent girls are forced into child bigamy and childbearing? The answer is: Through the distortion of both message and meaning. We want to believe these insular religious groups are loci of goodness and piety. We want to believe that religious liberty is always good. And we want to have these beliefs even if the facts dictate very much otherwise.

So when the FLDS’s public-relations hired guns put those images before us and demand religious liberty, we, including the media, close our eyes and shake off the grotesque images of girls being sexually assaulted in order to bear the twentieth child of a man who already has four wives. The real legacy of the Texas raid on the YFZ compound is that it has made it harder to close our eyes to the children in these settings. Are they now safe? Absolutely not. But they are safer than they were a year ago, when Texas started down the courageous path.

Marci Hamilton, a FindLaw columnist, is the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and author of Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children (Cambridge 2008). A review of Justice Denied appeared on this site on June 25, 2008. Her previous book is God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law (Cambridge University Press 2005), now available in paperback.

From: k***** On Behalf Of k.Dee Ignatin
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 6:24 PM
To: Nancy Mereska
Subject: GUILTY!

THANK YOU, K.DEE!  AND THE ELDORADO SUCCESS, A NEWSPAPER THAT IS PART OF OUR NEWS GROUP!!  YIPPEE!!  HOORAY!!  LINE THEM UP ONE BY ONE AND PUT THEM BEHIND BARS ONE BY ONE.  IF ONLY THIS WOULD HAPPEN IN CANADA!

6:30 p.m. Thursday
November 5, 2009
GUILTY
A Schleicher County jury found Raymond Merril Jessop guilty moments ago on one county of Sexual Assault of a Child.
The penalty phase of the trial is slated to begin Monday morning followed by sentencing.
Jessop was led from the courtroom in handcuffs and is currently being booked into the Schleicher County Jail.
Read more about the trial from the Eldorado Success

Dear Network:

I received comments about the last url addresses I posted not working. On the “go san angelo” url, please copy the whole url (second line included in your copy) and paste in your internet site—the article comes up. Forbes is a little more difficult—go to Forbes and type “polygamy” in the search site and several articles are highlighted. You may have to sign on to Forbes in order to do this. Sorry for the mix up. Following are comments and a news article from Info-Secte on this trial. Thank you, all. You are valuable to this campaign.

Dear Nancy, Rena and I have personally read all 1000 pages of Warren Jeffs dictations while he was in hiding from the FBI; continuing while he was incarcerated. In these reports it detailed the brutal labor of this underage girl; and the fact that even the FLDS Doctor, did not overrule Warren Jeffs and her “husband” RMJ to take her to the hospital. The THREE DAY LABOR endangered both the child/mother, and her unborn child. It also details her wedding, complete with her age at the time.

The FLDS have a longstanding pattern of willingness to portray the young mothers as immoral as a defense for the male predators who mask themselves as “husbands”. These young girls were the most pure, and controlled girls imaginable; until their abusive “spiritual husbands” get their hands on them. This is just another example of how the FLDS men treat women as property, and breeding stock. In this society women and children have no rights, or civil liberties as long as the FLDS leadership is in control. Given these facts it is horribly ironic that their defense against the Raid was to scream that their rights, and liberties were violated. In fact CPS bent over back-words in an effort to appease them. In the end this resulted in cases being “non suited” that were clearly prosecutable instances of heinous Child Abuse, and neglect. In comparison the average U. S. citizen would have had their children taken away and placed for adoption.

Kathleen Mackert VJM Gateway to Freedom Foundation www.VJMGatewayToFreedom.com

Apparently Mark Stevens can see the handwriting on the wall, and has figuratively decided to throw in the towel.

The prosecution rested its case after proving all of the elements of the Sexual Assault of a Child.  The defense made a cursory motion for directed verdict, which of course was denied.  The defense then rested without call a single witness.  Not a single person to show that Raymond was not in Texas at the time, not a single person to show that the victim wasn’t there, not a single bit of evidence to cast doubt on the State’s case, nothing…

They apparently didn’t make a big fight over the jury instructions either.

The case is now in the hands of a West Texas jury, and given the evidence, it will be hard pressed to come back with any verdict except Guilty as Charged.  At that point, Raymond will be a convicted felon and a sex offender – and the jury will be the ones to sentence him after the punishment phase.  Note that I said the jury will sentence Raymond – not Judge Walther.

In Texas, people don’t take kindly to the sexual abuse of children, and I don’t see that they will sentence him to 45 days… far more likely that it will be 20 years.  Another thing to consider is that the Sexual Assault of a Child is a 3g offense, meaning no good time credit.  Raymond would have to serve at least ½ of his sentence in calendar time prior to being eligible to be considered for parole, and he is not eligible for mandatory release – his case will go before the parole board.