Jury Selection Begins in Polygamist Trial

Raymond Jessop Faces up to 20 Years for Sexual Assault, 11 Other Sect Members Face Trial

(CBS/ AP)  Updated 8:30 p.m. EDT

More than 150 potential jurors, including 10 women in prairie dresses and braids, crammed into a makeshift courtroom Monday as jury selection began in the first criminal trial stemming from the raid of a polygamist sect's ranch last year.

Raymond Jessop, 38, is charged with sexual assault of a child, stemming from his alleged marriage to an underage girl. The girl, according to church documents seized by authorities, gave birth at age 16 at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado. If convicted, Jessop faces 20 years in prison.

He is also charged with bigamy, but that charge is to be tried separately. Prosecutors allege Jessop has nine wives, including three that were married to a brother before the brother was excommunicated by Warren Jeffs, the jailed leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Slideshow: Separation Anxiety

In all, 12 sect members have been charged with crimes ranging from failure to report child abuse to sexual assault and bigamy.

Flora Jessop, a cousin of Raymond Jessop and a former member of the sect, told CBS' "The Early Show" that it will be difficult for the members to receive a fair trial since they've "poisoned the well" for years with their business practices.

Jessop told "The Early Show Saturday Edition" "it really doesn't" surprise her that the men are being put on trial, "because of the nature of the abuses that we've been talking about for years. And I'm just happy to see that they are going to trial. What I'm upset the most about, I think, is the fact that none of the women have been indicted, as well. ...

"I think that the women were nothing but pimps on that compound and giving their daughters over to these perverts knowing what was going to happen to them."

Potential jurors for what would be Schleicher County's first jury trial in more than a decade spent Monday on plastic folding chairs in a building next to the courthouse. A few were dismissed with early exemption claims, but 17 FLDS members, conspicuous because of their distinct dress, remained in the pool, as did a relative of the local sheriff.

Randy Mankin, the editor of the weekly newspaper, The Eldorado Success, was dismissed. His mother and college-age son had also been summoned but took earlier exemptions allowed for older jurors and full-time students.

After answering group questions about their biases and whether they had personal connections to those involved in the case, potential jurors began undergoing individual questioning by attorneys late Monday. The voir dire was scheduled to continue Tuesday, and Texas District Judge Barbara Walther said she hoped to complete jury selection by then.

The county sent summonses to 300 potential jurors, the largest jury pool in its history, in hopes of seating 12 jurors and two alternates — a task that could be a challenge in a small county that became international news with the raid last April.

Authorities took 439 FLDS children into state custody and conducted a weeklong raid at the ranch, confiscating hundreds of boxes of documents and family photos.

Images of the women and children dressed in prairie clothing dominated cable news networks for weeks after the raid and after a subsequent court rulings sending the children back to their parents.

If lawyers can't come up with a jury in Schleicher County, the trial could be moved to an adjoining county.

Jessop's trial is expected to last two weeks, said assistant Attorney General Eric Nichols, who is prosecuting the case. The prosecution's witness list includes 59 people, including law enforcement and child welfare officials, two of Jessop's alleged underage wives and former FLDS members.

Authorities have said little publicly about the charge against Jessop, but documents seized from the ranch indicate the assault charge stems from his alleged relationship with a girl who was in labor for several days in August 2005. When ranch residents consulted Jeffs, he told them not to take her to the hospital, according to church documents seized at the ranch.

"I knew that the girl being 16 years old, if she went to the hospital, they could put Raymond Jessop in jeopardy of prosecution as the government is looking for any reason to come against us there," Jeffs wrote in a journal seized by authorities.

Jeffs was arrested in 2006 and convicted as an accomplice to rape in Utah for arranging an underage marriage there. He faces similar charges in Arizona and is charged with bigamy and sexual assault of a child in Texas.

One of Jeffs' daughters allegedly married Jessop the day after she turned 15. The bigamy charge against Jessop pertains to that alleged marriage.

Under Texas law, generally, no one under 17 can consent to sex with an adult.

Sect members, who believe polygamy brings glorification in heaven, historically have lived around the Arizona-Utah line, but the sect bought a ranch on the outskirts of Eldorado about six years ago. Hundreds of FLDS members have returned to the log cabin-style homes there.

The FLDS is a breakaway sect not recognized by the mainstream Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

[sam-kiley]

bonsoir

"I knew that the girl being 16 years old, if she went to the hospital, they could put Raymond Jessop in jeopardy of prosecution as the government is looking for any reason to come against us there," Jeffs wrote in a journal seized from the ranch.

quel culot ..etre complice..d'un malade..pour exécuter des pratiques abjectes sur des enfants....vous méritez un chatiment a la mesure de vos monstruosités.au revoir

[bot14]

Let's remember that, until the FLDS began the move to Texas, Texas law permitted marriages, with parental consent, for persons over 14 years old. The discriminatory passage of the law to raise the age to 16 was done specifically with the FLDS in mind.

Is that fair, to now prosecute them for any marriages of 14 or 15 year olds? In their isolated religious community, they were unaware of the change in the law.

[LadySadie695]

They were NOT unaware of the change in the law, the local sheriff personally took handout copies of the new law to the "bishop" merril jessop and made sure they were aware of the laws in Texas.

[SusanStoHelit]

It's a start. The abuse of women and children and underaged girls - heck, what they do to underaged BOYS is a crime too - by this cult is just sickening. The more you read, the worse it gets. The whole cult is just a breeding ground for more young girls for the old men to have sex with. They trade wives around, throw the young boys out so they won't have competition for 'brides' - this is all just a way to have a bunch of girls to have sex with, to swap around as they please.

[tbird6740]

Hold on just a minute! If it is okay for our "SAFE SCHOOLS CZAR" to support pedophelia, then Jessop should get off with a slap on the wrist, wouldn't you think?

[OOMPAH]

One of the biggest power grabs in the US was when the State decided to license marriages. This was when Blacks were not considered human beings; so they had to get a license, like a dog, when a white dude married a former slave. Next thing you know the Beast will issue a license to two members of the same xes.

[SusanStoHelit]

So you support pedophilia? It's OK for these supposed preachers to marry children to old men for sex, and the state shouldn't be involved?

[hungry1968-16]

He's "religious" and lives in Texas.

They'll let him go, no matter WHAT crime he committed.

[ianlou]

Raymond Merrill Jessop

With a name like that, this guy has to be from Mississippi.

Wasn't it Jessop County Mississippi where those Civil Rights workers were killed by the local cops in the sixties. (Mississippi Burning)

[Ms_enza]

A few simple changes in the tax codes, and a few simple changes in the State and Federal welfare codes and this becomes as much of a non-issue as does gay marriage.

This isn't an argument about societal benefits; it's a religious argument an DOES NOT BELONG in the courthouse.

We have laws to protect the underaged, let's enforce those, let's ensure that they are not double-dipping on welfare and tax deductions and then just stay the hell out of their bedrooms.

They are weird people with a weird religion and they will pass it on to their kids.

[RolandoSteen]

No - this is NOT simply a 'religious issue' that 'doesn't belong in the courts.'

These mormon cultists are PEDOPHILES and should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

[DaVicar8]

Last time I checked, you didn't have to be religious to get married. All youy needed was $35 and a blood test.

[Omamich]

Don't know about Texas teaching them, more likely showing them that they can't abuse the law, no matter what their religious belief.
Warren Steed Jeffs is the culprit, it's his dictatorial teachings that got the members of this sect into the trouble they are in. Utah and Arizona have passed and closed their eyes long enough, they thought they could get away with it in Texas, not.

[JiminCal]

Long awaited period to finally reveal the details and facts about this covert FLDS Church sect. They place their religious fundamentalist practices of their theocratic principals above our American democratic ideales. The entire congregation espouses the belief in their teachings up to and including felony statutes if their doctrines or Prophet approves their action(s). Sedition and anarchy are justifiable to FLDS Church leadership in their organized racketeering of sexual assaults, trafficking 'Child Brides', practiced polygamy and other frauds to extend their crime spree into Texas, Colorado, South Dakota, Nevada and Idaho. Senator Harry Reid's call for a pending Senate Bill to fund and appoint a Federal Task Force is very needed.