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Religion & Law

: Religion Clause

More Developments In Texas Cases Against FLDS Church Members

By Howard M. Friedman

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Yesterday's Deseret News reports on two developments in the ongoing confrontations between the state of Texas and the polygamous Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints church. In a court hearing in San Angelo (TX), a 17-year old girl who had been temporarily held in foster care by the state refused to reveal the whereabouts of her infant. According to the article, the court wants to collect a DNA sample from the baby in order to determine whether the mother was married off to an adult. Under Texas law, a minor under 17 generally cannot legally consent to sex with an adult.

In a second development, three FLDS members have surrendered to authorities after a grand jury earlier this month indicted them on charges relating to plural marriages at the YFZ Ranch that was raided by the state earlier this year. 72-year old Fredrick Merril Jessop allegedly conducted an unlawful marriage ceremony between his 12-year old daughter and FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. Wendell Loy Nielsen, 68, was indicted on three charges of bigamy. Leroy Johnson Steed, 42, was indicted for sexual assault of a child, bigamy and tampering with physical evidence.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on November 26, 2008 (boomark / email).