| BREAKING NEWS: Sect members gather for grand jury proceedings in Eldorado | |
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By Matt Phinney San Angelo Standard-Times | |
ELDORADO - Women from the FLDS continued to testify in front of a grand jury this afternoon. After an hourlong break from lunch, the grand jury reconvened about 1 p.m. By 2 p.m., life at the Schleicher County Courthouse seemed to come to a standstill as people looked for shade for relief from the heat. Half a dozen FLDS women sat at a picnic table with their lawyers near the courthouse. The Schleicher County grand jury broke for lunch just before noon today, and so far no indictments have been handed down. A man who identified himself only as Ben, a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints member, said outside the courthouse that most of the sect women subpoenaed to testify were planning to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights by refusing to testify because the information could incriminate them. With the exception of spokesman Willie Jessop, most sect members divulge only their first names. A group of sect men waited in parked vehicles outside the courthouse, sometimes taking pictures of the day's events. Willie Jessop, an FLDS spokesman, was tight-lipped this morning about the proceedings, saying only he might talk later today. In its first meeting last month, the grand jury met for a full day without issuing indictments stemming from the April raid in which state authorities took more than 400 children into custody and confiscated hundreds of boxes of documents from the group's YFZ Ranch near Eldorado. Authorities suspect the polygamist sect, which split decades ago from the Mormon Church, of sexual abuse and forced "marriages" involving underage girls. A grand jury is a group of 12 to 23 citizens empaneled in closed proceedings to evaluate the evidence presented by prosecutors in criminal matters. If the evidence is sufficient, an indictment or formal accusation is issued, and the accused person is subject to arrest. Earlier in the day, Jessop was pulled over on the side of U.S. Highway 277 north of Eldorado by what appeared to be two law enforcement cars. Jessop said he would talk about the reason for the stop later this afternoon. He was coy when asked abut the incident later. "Some people understand the obvious," Jessop told a reporter who asked why he had been pulled over. When asked whether he was subpoenaed during the stop, Jessop said, "Why do you think I got behind the yellow line," referring to the yellow tape that kept people from the courthouse. Jessop added, "It wasn't my good looks." The grand jury walked from the courthouse to the Memorial Building east of the courthouse about 8:30 a.m. Shortly after 9 a.m., Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott entered the building. Much of the courthouse lawn was taped off to keep reporters away, and law enforcement officials milled around the courthouse as a waiting game began. Several sect women showed up at the courthouse about 9 a.m., and at least one walked into the building where the grand jury hearing was scheduled to begin about 9:30 a.m. | |
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gosanangelo.com Originally published July 22, 2008 | |
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