Judge will allow DNA expert to testify in FLDS trial
 
By Trish Choate
STANDARD-TIMES WASHINGTON BUREAU
San Angelo Standard-Times
 
SAN ANGELO, Texas — ELDORADO — Prosecutors in a child sexual assault case against a polygamist sect member scored a victory today when the judge ruled she would allow a DNA expert to testify before the jury about paternity tests indicating the defendant fathered a child with a 16-year-old.

Also, 51st District Judge Barbara Walther decided the science behind the DNA evidence was generally accepted and that the DNA evidence was relevant to the case against defendant Raymond Merril Jessop, a 38-year-old member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Walther’s ruling came after about a 90-minute hearing today, and it came in spite of defense attorney Brandon Hudson’s contentions: DNA expert Amy Smuts didn’t know enough about the testing to explain it to a jury, Jessop could just be related to the real father of the child in the close-knit FLDS community, and paternity tests designed for civil cases aren’t suitable for criminal court.

The jury wasn’t present during the hearing.

The judge dismissed the seven-man, five-woman jury just before 3 p.m. Thursday because a juror’s child under 5 was running a high fever and might have swine flu.

The hearing might have been a skirmish in other cases, but it was a full-on battle in this one because of the nature of the charge against Jessop, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

He’s accused of sexually assaulting an underage girl in November 2004 at the Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado. He’d taken the girl as a wife, and paternity tests showing a nearly 100 percent probability that he’s the child’s father could be very damaging if they convince the jury.

Jessop faces two to 20 years in prison if convicted.

In one of the defense’s first chances to erode the credibility of the DNA testing, Hudson hammered at Smuts, a DNA expert from the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth.

Hudson queried her repeatedly about the methods, statistics and science behind DNA testing.

Often, Smuts’ answer was no, she hadn’t read that book or law case, and no, she couldn’t explain the theory behind that.

Hudson even supplied her with some information.

"I don’t mean this in any snarky or sarcastic way ... but I have the formula right here," Hudson said.

Prosecutor Lisa Tanner told the judge Hudson was asking obscure questions of a DNA expert who didn’t have to know the theory in question or case law. Tanner said Smuts had already fulfilled the requirements "ad nauseam" to show the science was generally accepted and the results of the tests could be duplicated.

An April 2008 raid of the sect’s YFZ Ranch near Eldorado resulted in the removal of more than 400 children — since returned to parents or guardians — and in criminal charges against 12 FLDS men. Those allegations are expected to be supported with evidence from the historic raid.

Jessop is the first of those men to go to trial. He’s also charged with bigamy. But that will be tried in a separate case.
 
gosanangelo.com
Originally published October 30, 2009
 
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