Jessop jurors continue deliberations

TRISH CHOATE Standard-Times Washington Bureau San Angelo Standard-Times

SAN ANGELO, Texas — ELDORADO — A Schleicher County jury retired about 11:50 a.m. Tuesday to decide the fate of convicted sex offender Raymond Merril Jessop. On Thursday, the jury took about two hours to convict the polygamist sect member of sexually assaulting a child. As of 1:10 p.m. Tuesday, the jury was still determining punishment. Tuesday morning, the 38-year-old member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints sat quietly while prosecutors urged the seven-man, five woman jury to send a message by giving him the maximum punishment: 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old in November 2004 at the Yearning For Zion Ranch near Eldorado. "Giving Mr. Jessop a recommendation for probation would be like giving him a get-out-of-jail-free card wrapped up in a bow," prosecutor Angela Goodwin told jurors. For their part, defense attorneys urged the jury to give Jessop probation, considering Jessop had no prior felony convictions, has been a good father, has been hardworking and has been a man of God, faithfully following the dictates of his religion. "Make no mistake about it," lead defense attorney Mark Stevens said. "Probation is punishment." The defense and the prosecution were each allowed 30 minutes for closing arguments, capping a trial now in its 12th day. Jessop did not testify on his own behalf, nor did the victim, now in her early 20s. Testimony and church documents seized in the historic April 2008 raid drew back the curtain on the victim’s life. She married Raymond Jessop’s brother when she was 15. When the brother was cast out of the FLDS, she became the "celestial" wife of Raymond Jessop. When she was 16, she bore him a child in August 2005, undergoing a difficult three-day labor, according to testimony and church documents. She wasn’t taken to the hospital because of fears Raymond Jessop would be prosecuted. She gave birth to a daughter, and DNA experts testified that DNA and paternity tests showed a 100 percent probability that Raymond Jessop was the father. Tuesday morning, jurors listened during presentations from two defense attorneys and two prosecutors. Jurors must decide whether to give Raymond Jessop time behind bars or, if the sentence is 10 years or less, to suspend the sentence and recommend probation to the judge. Prosecutor Angela Goodwin of the Texas Attorney General’s office went first. Jurors were very fortunate in this case because a curtain was drawn back on the secrecy among the FLDS, Goodwin said. They heard testimony from two women who were ex-members of the FLDS, Rebecca Musser and Carolyn Jessop, who was married to Raymond Jessop’s father. Musser told jurors sect members had religious training every day, "sometimes hours at a time," Goodwin said. They had "training on how to be obedient, training on how to be faithful," Goodwin said. This training grooms underage girls to marry men twice their age and be happy about it, according to testimony from prosecution witnesses. Goodwin told jurors to consider a punishment that would deter others who might even move to Schleicher County to sexually assault underage girls. "You can send a very strong message," Goodwin said. The prosecutor brought jurors’ attention to a photograph cast large on a projection screen. The photograph shows Raymond Jessop holding a baby while sitting at a kitchen table with one woman quite visible. Goodwin said the victim is back in the shadows since Raymond Jessop took a new 15-year-old wife. Carolyn Jessop testified about how her son’s first wife, Mary, reacted to Raymond Jessop taking on a new wife, Goodwin said. Carolyn Jessop said something like, "Every day, we saw less and less of Mary," Goodwin said. Prosecutors allege Raymond Jessop took eight spiritual wives and one legal wife. Goodwin said photographs might show FLDS sect members smiling, but all is not well once the layers are peeled back. She also told jurors not to hold four character witnesses’ testimony against them. They testified for Raymond Jessop Monday evening. Those witnesses saw just a little bit of Raymond Jessop, but jurors have seen it all, Goodwin said. "We would ask you to keep (the victim) in mind, to bring her out of the shadows," Goodwin said. Stevens took center stage in front of the jury box first, making a passionate plea that bordered on shouting at times. "We have no quarrel with your verdict," he said. "We respect your verdict." Then he went on to remind them they all said they were open to considering probation as punishment for sexual assault of a child. He wanted them to first consider Jessop the man. "They called this a crime of sexual violence," Stevens said. But prosecutors didn’t present a single witness who said that Jessop had ever "harmed a hair on their head," Stevens said. He jogged their memories about four character witnesses who testified Monday they’d met Jessop while he worked on their home and felt he was trustworthy. Jacquelyn James of Christoval told jurors, "I know that Raymond Merril Jessop is a good man," Stevens said, reading from the projection screen. Even if they’ve only known him since the summer or a year ago, they’ve used their judgment to determine Raymond Jessop is a good man, Stevens said. Stevens reminded the jury that Louis James said, "Raymond made me a better man." He asked jurors where the prosecution’s witnesses were who would justify a 20-year sentence. As for Larry Beall, a clinical psychologist from Salt Lake City, Utah, who has worked with some FLDS clients, he’s already made about $45,000 from the state, and he wants to send in more bills and get hired again, Stevens said. And, Stevens asked, what did Musser or Raymond Jessop’s mother say that was bad about him? He also prompted jurors to consider that there are all types of sexual assaults, and the FLDS men are not predators who hang around schoolyards looking for a little child to snatch. "They keep to themselves," Stevens said. He reassured jurors that 51st Judicial District Judge Barbara Walther can be trusted to supervise probation for Raymond Jessop. "Judge Walther is not a soft touch," Stevens said. Jurors should also only consider evidence of extraneous offenses introduced by prosecutors — such as bigamy, helping hide now-imprisioned FLDS leader Warren Jeffs and endangering the victim and his unborn baby by not taking her to the hospital — if they believed those offenses were proven beyond a reasonable doubt, Stevens said. When defense attorney Brandon Hudson finished giving the defense’s closing arguments, he told jurors those character witnesses got to see Jessop. "All you got to see of Raymond was what somebody" wrote on a piece of paper, Hudson said. Then lead prosecutor Eric Nichols worked to clinch a 20-year-sentence with the jury, giving a more dramatic and gripping closing argument than during the guilt or innocence phase of the trial. "By serving as jurors in this case, you have gone through the locked gates," into the houses, into the Temple vault and into the Temple Annex vault at the YFZ Ranch, Nichols said. "You’re not in a position to avert your eyes or close your ears to what you’ve seen," he said. He later added, "The only way to make a man like Raymond Merril Jessop listen" is to give him the maximum punishment. Jessop is the first to go to trial out of 12 FLDS members facing charges in connection with evidence seized during the 2008 raid on the YFZ Ranch. The charges range from aggravated assault of a child to performing an illegal ceremony involving a minor. Authorities took 439 FLDS children into custody during the raid. They all have been returned to parents or guardians. Jessop also faces a charge of bigamy in connection with a 2006 incident. He is to be tried separately on that charge. Standard-Times Staff Writer Matthew Waller contributed to this report.

gosanangelo.com Originally published November 10, 2009

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