| Judge rules YFZ evidence admissible at trial Evidence of prior bad acts to be considered on case-by-case basis during penalty phase | |
| The Eldorado Success | |
District Judge Barbara Walther ended months of speculation Friday when she ruled that evidence seized during the April 2008 raid on the YFZ Ranch may be used in a series of criminal trials pending against a dozen defendants. First among those will be Raymond Merril Jessop, 38, who is slated to stand trial for sexual assault of a minor, beginning October 26 here in Eldorado. He is also charged with a single count of bigamy and will face trial on that charge at a later date. The judge's long-awaited ruling came at the end of a pre-trial hearing in her Tom Green County courtroom. During the hearing, prosecution and defense attorneys had argued over precisely which evidence and testimony should be allowed before the jury in Jessop's upcoming trial. During the same hearing, Raymond Merril Jessop formally answered the sexual assault charge with a not guilty plea. Judge Walther's ruling concerning the legality of the YFZ search was held until the end of the hearing when she called both legal teams into her chambers to give them the news. Defense attorneys had argued last May that the raid on the YFZ Ranch was prompted by a hoax telephone call from a Colorado woman and that the subsequent search was illegal. A woman named Rozita Swinton is now widely believed to have placed several hoax calls during which she claimed to be an abused minor girl at the YFZ Ranch who had been forced into a polygamous marriage with a man named Dale Evans Barlow. Ms. Swinton reportedly has a history of placing hoax calls and is currently under investigation in connection with her role in the YFZ raid. YFZ lawyers argued in May that Texas Ranger Brooks Long and Sheriff David Doran knew, or should have known, that the calls leading to the raid were faked and that the alleged perpetrator was not even on the property. But, the judge on Friday disagreed, saying that the defense had produced no evidence that Ranger Long intentionally withheld information or recklessly misrepresented information in a probable cause affidavit he filed with the court in support of the initial warrant. "...Ranger Long believed at the time he sought Warrant M-08-001-S that the caller was a real victim of domestic and sexual assault that as a result of his belief he sought the search warrant as a means of further investigation of these allegations," Judge Walther's ruling stated. "The Court finds that Ranger Long had probable cause at the time he sought Warrant M-08-001-S to believe that crimes, including sexual assault of a child, had occurred and were occurring on the YFZ Ranch premises," the judge continued. Judge Walther's ruling went on to say that there is no credible evidence that Ranger Long:
"The Court finds that before the Search and Arrest Warrant was executed Sheriff David Doran received a cell phone communication from someone claiming to be Dale Evans Barlow. Sheriff Doran instructed the caller to contact the law enforcement where he was located within thirty minutes of said phone call. Notification of such contact within that time frame, if any, was never received by Sheriff Doran." "The Court finds no credible evidence that the officers executing the Arrest and Search Warrant M-08-001-S knew that or should have known that Dale Evans Barlow was not on the ranch at the time of the search." The judge's ruling continued by saying that a second search warrant was obtained after authorities entered the YFZ Ranch and "came into contact in plain view with evidence of additional criminal activity above and beyond what was alleged...including evidence of multiple instances of bigamy and sexual assault of additional children." "The Court finds that in support of the probable cause affidavit for Warrant M-08-002-S Ranger Long included statements made by Department workers that several individuals had identified themselves as being minors, that they were spiritually married to men that were adults, that these men were spiritually married to other women and that they had given birth to children as a result of these spiritual marriages." In a partial victory for the defense, Judge Walther ruled that all 12 of the YFZ defendants have standing to contest the validity of the search warrants, something the state had argued against since not all of them owned or controlled property at the ranch. Still, the judge ruled for the prosecution on almost everything else.She concluded her ruling by directly tackling the sticky question of religious freedom. "The Court concludes that for the state to interfere with an individual's right to freely exercise his religion and thus by governmental action burden that individual's religious practice, the state must be subjected to the rigid standard of strict scrutiny and the state must demonstrate a compelling governmental interest. The Court concludes that the State's action in protecting minors and enforcing the penal laws of this state complies with these requirements." Early on during last Friday's hearing, Judge Walther was informed that the two sides have not discussed a plea agreement. Deputy Attorney General Eric Nichols then noted that the prosecution has amended its indictment of Raymond Merril Jessop, reducing the charge from a 1st to a 2nd degree felony, because the statute that allows for the enhanced charge was not in place at the time of the alleged crime. Judge Walther noted and allowed the amendment. The two sides agreed that the upcoming trial will likely take "eight or nine days with breaks." They then set about hashing out the do's and don'ts for the trial. Among other topics debated was defense attorney Mark Stevens' request that the prosecution be prohibited from mentioning FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs during the trial. Stevens argued that Jeffs is not on trial and has no connection to the case. Neither did he think that the prosecutors should be allowed to bring up the fact that defendant Raymond Merril Jessop is accused of bigamy or that he is alleged to have nine wives. Stevens also wants there to be no mention of Jessop's legal marriage to Mary J. Musser, with whom he is said to have fathered children. For his part, Deputy Attorney General Eric Nichols disagreed and told Judge Walther that bigamy and other marriages are a part of the state's case. Nichols also said he planned to invoke the name of Warren Jeffs, but only in the penalty phase of the trial, if and when a guilty verdict is returned. With that, the judge denied Stevens motion to completely prohibit the mention of bigamy and/or other marriages. She did say, however, that she will rule on evidence and references as they come up during the trial. Among other things Stevens doesn't want mentioned are what he called "miscellaneous, irrelevant and prejudicial evidence" such as a cyanide poisoning document and guns seized during the search on the ranch, furniture in the temple and birthing rooms. The prosecution noted that cyanide and guns weren't on the evidence list and once again, the judge said she would rule on evidence as it is presented at trial. Stevens also asked for rap sheets on any witnesses called to testify against his client, to which Eric Nichols agreed. The judge then gave both sides a deadline of October 14, 2009 for presenting her with any plea bargain agreement. Barring any last minute deal, the case of the State of Texas v. Raymond Merril Jessop is set to get underway on Monday, October 26, 2009 in the Schleicher County Memorial Building where a mobile courtroom has been set up. The judge's bench, jury box, witness stand and court reporter's stand were removed from the Tom Green County Courthouse, transported to Schleicher County, and set up in the Memorial building last Friday. | |
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myeldorado.net Originally published Thursday, October 8, 2009 | |
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