Trial dates set for sect members facing criminal charges
 
By Matt Phinney
San Angelo Standard-Times
 
Trial dates on charges related to sexual abuse of children, bigamy and other charges have been set for 10 men from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Attorneys for the defendants, indicted earlier this year by a Schleicher County grand jury, and the state ironed out the dates Thursday afternoon during a status conference in the Tom Green County Courthouse.

The schedule of trials runs to the end of next year.

Dates for Raymond Merril Jessop, charged with sexual abuse of a child, had already been set — a pretrial hearing Aug. 10 and a trial Oct. 26.

At the beginning of the conference, 51st District Judge Barbara Walther left the room for about 20 minutes, leaving the lawyers huddled over a schedule sheet to set proposed hearing schedules among themselves.

The final schedule approved by the judge is as follows with the defendants, pretrial date, trial date and charges:

  -- Allan Eugene Keate, Nov. 19, Dec. 7, sexual abuse of a child.

  -- Michael Emack, Jan. 7, 2010, Jan. 25, 2010, sexual abuse of a child.

  -- Merrill Leroy Jessop, Feb. 25, 2010, March 8, 2010, sexual abuse of a child and bigamy.

  -- Lehi Barlow Jeffs, April 15, 2010, April 26, 2010, sexual abuse of a child and bigamy.

  -- Abram Harker Jeffs, May 13, 2010, June 7, 2010, sexual abuse of a child and bigamy.

  -- Keith William Dutson, July 15, 2010, July 26, 2010, sexual abuse of a child.

  -- Wendell Loy Nielson, Sept. 2, 2010, Sept. 7, 2010, three counts of bigamy.

  -- Frederick Merril Jessop, Oct. 4, 2010, Oct. 11, 2010, conducting an unlawful marriage ceremony involving a minor.

  -- Leroy Johnson Steed, Nov. 23, 2010, Dec. 6, 2010, first-degree felony sexual assault of a child, second-degree felony bigamy, third-degree felony bigamy and third-degree felony tampering with physical evidence.

During the conference, Walther said the pretrials would be held at 10 a.m. in San Angelo. Between now and the first trial, attorneys are looking at ways to get a jury pool from Schleicher County while having the trials in San Angelo.

Walther has yet to rule on the defendants’ motions filed in May to suppress evidence taken from the Yearning For Zion Ranch near Eldorado. An April 3, 2008, raid on the ranch led to the removal of more than 400 children from the ranch and the seizure of documents and other material.

The massive child custody action required more than a year to sort out. In a separate matter, Walther on Thursday also approved the permanent custody transfer of a 15-year-old girl from Child Protective Services to a relative, according to CPS.

The girl, an alleged wife of Warren Jeffs, was placed with Naomi Carlisle, a distant relative, in May on a trial basis. The May decision came at the request of CPS, as well as from attorneys for the girl and her mother, Barbara Jessop.

That girl was the only remaining child in state custody who formerly lived at the ranch.
 
gosanangelo.com
Originally published July 23, 2009
 
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