AUSTIN — A convicted member of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints continues to serve prison time while an appeals court weighs his challenge to a search warrant crucial to the case.
When the Third Court of Appeals in Austin rules on the legal arguments by Michael Emack it could impact the case of Warren Jeffs and other FLDS members charged in Schleicher County, legal experts say.
But a decision may not come soon.
"It's not unusual for a court to scratch its head for six months, 10 months," said Richard Segura, an Austin criminal defense attorney and lecturer in the University of Texas School of Law criminal defense clinic. "Every case is different."
(Snip)
Emack's attorneys argued the initial call that led to a Child Protective Services investigation was a hoax and that the ensuing "illegal search and interrogation of the young girls" tainted a later search warrant.
"Based upon a mentally unstable tipster's false calls to a shelter hotline, Texas Law Enforcement and Child Protective Services launched a raid on the YFZ Ranch community, in what was described as one of the 'most massive' law enforcement undertakings of its kind in the history of the United States," the defense attorneys wrote in a legal brief.
(Excerpt--entire story here)
Editor’s Note: CNN’s Gary Tuchman explores the latest developments in the saga of polygamist Warren Jeffs, the jailed leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Part 2 of a special report on Wednesday’s “AC 360” and for CNN Presents, airing Sunday, July 31, at 8 p.m. ET.
El Dorado, Texas (CNN) – Fundamentalist Mormon leader Warren Jeffs has been held in a tiny jail in this west Texas town for roughly three years. According to his jailers, he has spent his time doing one thing above all else: talking on the phone..
Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran told CNN that in one month, Jeffs has spent roughly $3,000 on phone cards.
And while Jeffs was recently held in another Texas jail roughly 50 miles away, he spent close to $10,000 in phone cards in three months.
Reagan County Sheriff James Garner, who oversees that jail, told CNN that no inmate there has ever spent that much money on phone cards.
(Excerpt--more at link)
What a phone bill! The story goes on to say his followers keep him in phone cards. No doubt while their kids go hungry, and that's even on the taxpayers' dime, since most of them are milking the system for all they can get.