Court: Texas Had No Right Taking Sect Kids

"Insufficient" Grounds For Seizing Children From Polygamous Sect, Appeals Court Rules

(CBS/AP)  In a ruling that could torpedo the case against the West Texas polygamist sect, a state appeals court Thursday said authorities had no right to seize more than 440 children in a raid on the splinter group's ranch last month.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin said the state failed to show the youngsters were in any immediate danger, the only grounds in Texas law for taking children from their parents without court action.

It was not clear whether the children - now scattered in foster homes across the state - might soon be returned to their parents. The ruling gave a lower-court judge 10 days to release the youngsters from state custody, but the state could appeal to the Texas Supreme Court and block that from happening.

"Unless this ruling gets overturned on appeal, it looks like Texas authorities will be required to return most if not all of the children back to the compound and to their mothers sooner rather than later," said CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen. "And at that point I imagine there will be some sort of major investigation into how law enforcement officials could have blundered so massively, if indeed they have."

The decision in one of the biggest child-custody cases in U.S. history was a humiliating defeat for the state Child Protective Services agency. It was hailed as vindication by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who claimed they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs.

"It's a great day for Texas justice. This was the right decision," said Julie Balovich, a Legal Aid attorney for some of the parents. She was joined by several smiling mothers who declined to comment at a news conference outside the courthouse in San Angelo.

Some court-appointed attorneys for the children are in a holding pattern, reports CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan. Susan Hayes, who represents a two-year-old, says she is not worried about abuse if the child is returned.

"I have not seen anything about my client, and there are a lot of ad litems that have seen nothing about their particular clients and their families," she said.

Every child at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado was taken into state custody more than six weeks ago after someone called a hot line claiming to be a pregnant, abused teenage wife. The girl has not been found and authorities are investigating whether the calls were a hoax.

Child-protection officials argued that five girls at the ranch had become pregnant at 15 and 16 and that the sect pushed underage girls into marriage and sex with older men and groomed boys to enter into such unions when they reached adulthood.

"What the court didn't address is there are still, without any question, young girls out there who are pregnant, and that's part of the culture," Texas attorney Guy Choate told CBS News anchor Katie Couric.

But the appeals court said the state was not justified in sweeping up all the children and taking them away on an emergency basis without going to court first.

"Even if one views the FLDS belief system as creating a danger of sexual abuse by grooming boys to be perpetrators of sexual abuse and raising girls to be victims of sexual abuse ... there is no evidence that this danger is 'immediate' or 'urgent'," the court said.

"Evidence that children raised in this particular environment may someday have their physical health and safety threatened is not evidence that the danger is imminent enough to warrant invoking the extreme measure of immediate removal."

The court said the state failed to show that any more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused, and offered no evidence of sexual or physical abuse against the other children. Half the youngsters taken from the ranch were under 5. Only a few dozen are teenage girls.

The court also said the state was wrong to consider the entire ranch as a single household and to seize all the children on the grounds that some parents in the home might be abusers.

CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins said department attorneys had not decided whether to appeal. "We are trying to assess the impact that this may have on our case," he said.

CPS's umbrella agency, the Department of Family and Protective Services, issued a statement defending the raid, saying it removed the children "after finding a pervasive pattern of sexual abuse that puts every child at the ranch at risk."

"Child Protective Services has one duty - to protect children. When we see evidence that children have been sexually abused and remain at risk of further abuse, we will act," the department said.

FLDS spokesman Rod Parker said sect members feel vindicated. "They're very thrilled. They're looking forward to seeing the children returned," he said.

The decision technically applies to only 38 of the roughly 200 parents who challenged the seizure. But Balovich said she expected attorneys for all the other parents to seek to join the ruling.

Balovich said the court "has stood up for the legal rights of these families and given these mothers hope that their families will be brought back together."

Of the 31 people the state initially said were underage mothers, 15 have been reclassified as adults, and one is 27.

Five judges in San Angelo, about 40 miles north of Eldorado, have been holding hearings on what the parents must do to regain custody. Those hearings, which began Monday, were suspended after the ruling Thursday.

"The appeals court ruled that the state didn't prove that the children were in immediate danger when they were taken from the compound. But that's a different standard from the one the trial courts in San Angelo now are using to come up with individual custody plans for many of the children. So this is still a very fluid situation," Cohen said.

"The appellate court now has ordered the trial court to 'vacate' its order granting 'sole' conservatorship of children to the Child Welfare Department. So the ball is now in the hands of the judge or judges in San Angelo, who either can comply with the order or try to weasel around it," Cohen said. "There is a middle path here - the idea that the trial court could vacate the 'sole' part of the conservatorship but still allow the department to maintain some level of oversight over the welfare of the kids."

The custody case has been chaotic from the beginning. During the first round of hearings, held two weeks after the April 3 raid, hundreds of lawyers crammed into a courtroom and nearby auditorium, queuing up to voice objections or ask questions on behalf of the mothers who were there in their trademark prairie dresses and braided hair.

CPS has struggled for weeks to establish the identities of the children and sort out their tangled family relationships. The youngsters are in foster homes all over the sprawling state, with some brothers or sisters separated by as much as 600 miles.

[gaye5]

Come on you lot, lets forget about the fact that they are guilty or not of child marriages, child *** or what ever,

Polygamy alone is a crime...

I dont care what religion they belong to, it is a crime..or have laws in America changed to allow marriage to mutiple partners now..

Next we will say that every religion has an excuse to have many wives if they so want, then of course others groups will then say the same.. Homosexuals will say that their beliefs are that they can marry three men and they should all get the same legal rights, or three men and a woman... now personally, I feel that three man and a woman is far better, she can cope with that far better than a man can cope with three wives, and she would be much richer as they will all be working..
Of course I am joking but if the law allows one group then why not others...

[rhs648]

Its called ,The Declaration of Independence,The Constitution, Bill of Rights ,etc. Texans are a disgrace to the American People.Why, haven''''t the DA ,Judge,Sheriff and the rest of the clowns not been arrested ?

Posted by beehive21

True, but these are things that some people never heard of, don''t unserstand, or don''t care about. If you add the thousands of laws and interpretations, is it any wonder people think like they do?

[beehive21-2009]

Its called ,The Declaration of Independence,The Constitution, Bill of Rights ,etc. Texans are a disgrace to the American People.Why, haven''t the DA ,Judge,Sheriff and the rest of the clowns not been arrested ?

[rhs648]

correction

It''''''''s a religious cult that worships pedophiles.

Last time I checked, pedophilia is illegal in all 50 states.

Of course the kids should have been taken out of that environment.

Posted by shanev137

None of this was proven. The judge found no evidence to support your statements or those of the Texas officials involved. You, like the Texas officials jumped to these conclusions without evidence, without proof. The Texas officials actually violated the law according to this judge. Just because you think something bad happened doesn''''t make it true. Present evidence, it is the Ameican way.

[rhs648]

It''''s a religious cult that worships pedophiles.

Last time I checked, pedophilia is illegal in all 50 states.

Of course the kids should have been taken out of that environment.

Posted by shanev137

None of this was proven. The judge found no evidence to support your statements or those of the Texas officials involved. You, like the Texas officials jumped to these conclusions with evidence, without proof. The Texas officials actually violated the law according to this judge. Just because you think something bad happened doesn''t make it true. Present evidence, it is the Ameican way.

[mercyme884]

Has it been so long since Hitler and Nazi Germany that you people can''t see the same pattern of instances right here in Texas. Hitler did exactly the same thing except he killed the Jews and their kids and kept the others to be taught to be just like him. Was any of those Judges and state officals of german descent? Of course they were evil perpetuating evil just like the Bible predicted.

[truthalways]

!!!!TEXAS CHIEF POLICE ACCUSE OF S E X WITH AN UNDERAGE GIRL!!!!

This was one of the news'''''''' title on Fox News today...

From a small town..how ironical!!! what hypocrisy for the officials of Texas..,

http://www.foxnews.com/st
o
ry/0,2933,357381,00.html


May be the state of texas need to check his officials first before attacking the FLDS!


----------------------------------

[agregg0406]

You never know...OUR children may be next to be picked up because the government thinks WE are incompetent and they can do a better job at raising them...Take it from one that knows...

[fibonacci_gr]

I personally do not consider teaching things like mathematics is brainwash, nor is science. Religion is hocus-pocus type brainwash. For little brains.

[messiahx4eve]

I LOVE all this reference to "BRAINWASHING"....*** do you think you have been going through since the inception of THE INDUSTRIAL AGE, people???? Schools, church''s, anything social is GEARED towards social conformity. The ONLY reason women do not exactly approve of pologomy is because IF they had more than one husband, they would forever be picking up after ALL of them, and they know it!!!! For two hundred years, we have been brainwashed into thinking we are all born to work for someone else, not ourselves. Agrarian society was the best, just ask any Native American. Our WAY of life is coming to an end, enjoy it while you can because the rules are about to change.

[zorar-2009]

And it''s ok for these sick F@CKS men to dip their sticks in under age teenage girls.."Hang em High" let''s have some good old Clint Eastwood justice!

[fibonacci_gr]

nishaboston, I am not talking about polygamy - I am talking about brainwash.

[nishaboston]

I wish the government would have invaded Catholic Church when there was proof priest were molesting children.

[nishaboston]

fibonacci_gr please read about Pologomy. It has been practiced for centuries and centuries. It is still practiced in many countries and some of these people lead more normal lives then regular couples with children. Even in the bible men had many wives. Not saying I would do it but it depends on the situation.

[luvwknd69]

Wow, amazing they gave the kids back. I guess I''ll join this compound so I can rape little kids too!
Thanks State Officials, I''ve been wanting some young ***!

[dsr57]

HA HA WHATEVER MAN, LOOK AT THOSE FREAKS.....SOMETHINGS NOT RIGHT THERE ! ! ! !! !

[fibonacci_gr]

These people are still committing horrible crimes against their children in my opinion, by indoctrinating them with myths they compromise their critical thinking skills and thereby take away their ability to think freely. These children will have to wear Joseph-Smitt-glasses for the rest of their lives. Except those that are extraordinarly intelligent, which is usually probably only like 1 in 300 or so.

[zulu_cowboy]

IT''S ABOUT TIME! That ''renegade'' judge, Barbara Walther is a loose cannon! She has violated her oath of office. From issuing a search warrant based on an uninvestigated hoax phone call, to maintaining that all of the family homes at the YFZ Ranch were really 1 household, and claiming they only needed one warrant to search the entire 1700 acre ranch? Then there was that custody hearing where 359 lawyers had to represent their 460+ clients in one jam packed hearing, (259 of these attorneys, were in an entirely separate auditorium, watching the proceedings on a video feed)! And some people have the nerve to call this...''Due Process''?? It''s just so incredibly unconstitutional!
The appellate court recognized that, along with many other holes in the State''s case, and refused to go along with it. Now this judge and Texas CPS are starting to realize, that they have bitten off...more than they can chew. They are learning the hard way...that by circumventing the Constitutional process, not only have they violated these people''s civil rights, but they have undermined their case, and shot themselves in the foot. The Constitution is there for a reason...it cannot be ignored without somebody having to pay the price. In this case...that ''somebody'' is the judge whose job it was to protect these people, by upholding her oath of office, and abiding by the U.S. Constitution. Saying "We did it for the children"...just doesn''t cut it folks!

Zulu Cowboy
YearningForZion.com
YearningForZionRanch.com

[nonayabiness]

These secret compounds have been historically troublesome. If they had nothing to hide, they wouldn''t be living so separately from the rest of society. These women and children are being brainwashed, and that is a form of abuse.

The CPS did the right thing based on what evidence it did have at the time to rescue those children. If CPS were more proactive in many cases instead of reactive, there would be many more children not murdered.

[kindrox]

If I came in your house and took your kids unlawfully, I would go to jail. But nobody ever goes to jail when someone acting with goverment backing breaks the law, no matter what they do.

Why is that???