First YFZ trial slated for October
 
The Eldorado Success
 
Hearing on legality of YFZ raid search warrant slated for May 13 Raymond Merril Jessop will stand trial for sexual assault of a child and bigamy, beginning on October 26, 2009. The trial will be held in Tom Green County, but with a Schleicher County jury, according to a ruling issued by 51st District Judge Barbara Walther during pretrial hearings Monday, January 12, 2009, at the Schleicher County Courthouse.

Trials for the remaining YFZ Ranch defendants will follow at a rate of one per month with Allan Eugene Keate being the second slated to stand trial. Keate is also charged with sexual assault of a child.

But, before the trials can take place, Walther must first rule on the legality of the search of the YFZ Ranch. Lawyers representing the various YFZ defendants have challenged the warrant served at the YFZ last April after authorities responded to a call from an alleged abuse victim. That call is now widely believed to have been a hoax.

The judge will hear challenges to the search at a hearing on May 13th.

In a related matter, attorney’s representing FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs have agreed to withhold their challenge to the use of YFZ evidence in Jeffs’ Arizona trial until after the May hearing.

In all, a dozen men connected with the YFZ Ranch have been charged with crimes ranging from sexual assault of a child, and aggravated sexual assault, to bigamy, tampering with physical evidence, failure to report abuse, and conducting a ceremony prohibited by law.

Those defendants, and the charges they face, are as follows:
  • Warren Steed Jeffs - sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, and bigamy;
  • Raymond Merril Jessop - sexual assault of a child and bigamy;
  • Allan Eugene Keate - sexual assault of a child;
  • Michael Emack - sexual assault of a child and bigamy;
  • Merril Leroy Jessop - sexual assault of a child and bigamy;
  • Lehi Barlow Jeffs aka Lehi Barlow Allred - sexual assault of a child, and bigamy;
  • Abraham Harker Jeffs - sexual assault of a child and bigamy;
  • Keith William Dutson, Jr. - sexual assault of a child;
  • Wendell Loy Nielsen - three counts of bigamy;
  • Frederick Merril Jessop - conducting a ceremony prohibited by law;
  • Leroy Johnson Steed - sexual assault of a child, bigamy, tampering with physical evidence; and
  • Dr. Lloyd Barlow - failure to report abuse.
As Monday’s hearing played out, it was revealed that the state has 12 terabytes of computer information seized during the raid. That equates to about a half million typeset pages in Microsoft Word format.

It was also revealed that audio and video recordings taken by law enforcement officers during initial stages of the YFZ raid will be made available to attorneys for defendants. Assistant Attorney General Eric Nichols insisted, however, and Judge Walther agreed that the recordings are for "lawyers’ eyes only" and not to be made available to others.

Judge Walther further explained that she will hear additional motions in the various cases on February 18th with April 15th being the deadline for motions to be filed.
 
myeldorado.net
Originally published January 15, 2009
 
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