Warren Jeffs, FLDS "Prophet" with his child bride.
Posted on 03/19/2010 5:07:39 PM PDT by deport
SAN ANGELO, Texas — In the harshest sentence yet for members of a Texas polygamist group, a Tom Green County jury has sentenced Merril Leroy Jessop, 35, to 75 years in prison and imposed a $10,000 fine on one count of sexual assault of a child.
The jury deliberated on the sentence from 10:30 a.m. today until 2:35 p.m.
Jessop was convicted Wednesday on allegations that he illegally married and fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl while living at the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Schleicher County in 2006. He is a member of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and was a resident of the sect’s YFZ Ranch outside of Eldorado.
“We’re extremely disappointed,” lead defense attorney Dan Hurley said outside the Tom Green County courthouse after the sentence was announced. “We felt the jury received evidence not accurate or true.” .......
Lead Prosecutor Eric Nichols said he was satisfied with the sentence.
“Justice was again served in Texas,” Nichols said. .....
The next trial is for Lehi Barlow Jeffs for sexual assault of a child on April 26.
Eight more men from the YFZ Ranch are under indictments because of evidence from the raid, Nichols said.
end snips
(Excerpt) Read more at gosanangelo.com ...
You mean there really was sexual child abuse going on in the FLDS compound?
Who would have thought?
Warren Jeffs, FLDS "Prophet" with his child bride.
Ping
Oh baby, oh baby! Wow, those hairdos are hot - almost as hot as Reg Kehoe’s Marimba Queens:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DANkec2NY4w
But he wasn’t gay, he was part of a perverted child molesting ring/cult, be happy we got the guy and pray that we get more of them.
I’m aghast that some here are actually defending this freak show cult of pedophilia. You ought to know that there’s some of us out here that will take matters into their own hands if you touch our daughters, you won’t do a single minute of jail time because you won’t live that long, you friggin sickos.
This group was so sick that the men and mothers, bred their daughters to exchange among the adult men as "wives" and they drove a percentage of their sons away, to eliminate their competing for the girls and interfering with the well oiled machine.
He’s innocent, I tells ya! What could be wrong with marrying a few 15 year olds??
There are hundreds of thousands of teenage school girls who get pregnant every year. Your taxes go to pay for their bastard children. Their daddies continue to freely prey on young girls. You get your britches tied in a knot because some people here in FR see the a perversion of justice in the state of Texas singling out the polygamists for punishment. Why shouldn't we expect them to go into the ghetto and apply the same standard?
Gee this is like having a flashback to the original threads, even a conviction doesn’t slow you guys down.
It's more a San Angelo/Tom Green County thing. They still have as sense of West Texas Justice up there. I wish those jurors would move South to Kerr County. Here's the 411 from our slap on the wrist courts from two days ago:
After a morning of difficult testimony by a 14-year-old victim, John Brendan Flowers changed his “not guilty” plea to “guilty” on two indictments of aggravated sexual assault of a child younger than 14 and one count of sexual assault of a child younger than 14.
He was sentenced to three five-year sentences to run concurrently in a Texas state penitentiary.
The deal also means Flowers will avoid prosecution on five different charges pending against him. He pleaded guilty to one charge each from three separate underage victims whose ages ranged from 12 to 14 when the assaults occurred.
I wish those jurors would move South to Kerr County.
The jurors didn’t get a chance in the trial you are referencing. It was a copped plea deal made during a lunch break in the trial.
Thank you for correcting that for me. Do you know the reasoning for that? I thought his victims had already testified.
So you can't explain why it's important to piss on a dwindling polygamist group in mid America while continuing to subsidize growing numbers of unwed mothers who in many cases are underage.
I see when the jurors in Kerr County actually do get to find someone guilty, they can do West Texas:
On Thursday, Dec. 4, a jury in the 198th District Court gave Assistant District Attorney Amos Barton what he might have never even dreamed — convicting the defendant to a total of 297-years for three felony counts of sexual assault of a child.
I agree with your points. As I am not American, I have little opinion about this silly cult group - I agree that they have to be made to respect the law. But 75 years? His mistake seems to have been to “marry” the girl. I await the slightest sign that men who knock up teenage girls will face any charges at all - they are free, so long as they do it in a secular manner.
From the Kerrville Daily Times:
After cross examination, the court adjourned for lunch and the prosecution offered Flowers the deal.
Along with a five-year jail sentence, Flowers was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,020.08 and is required to register as a sex offender.
“I have mixed emotions,” said 198th assistant district attorney and prosecutor Brad McCullouch. “There was a big part of me that wanted to see this case decided by a jury. Then I saw how the defense attorney re-victimized a 14-year-old little girl, and I just wasn’t willing to put the other two victims through that. I know I wouldn’t want my child to have to go through that. Brendan Flowers stood up today in front of a district judge, told him he was pleading guilty because he was guilty and for no other reason. Five years, three felonies and lifetime sex registration requirements is the right thing to do.”
There were a few factors pertaining to the Brendan Flowers trial that ultimately resulted in a plea bargain during the lunch break. The DA and Assistant DA a bit gun shy from the previous trial, the defense attorney was despicable in handling one of the victims, the prosecution not quite able to read the jurors. If the plea bargain had not been accepted he would have gotten the maximum sentence before the jury. Two out of the three victims agreed to the plea.
Deport where did you get your information and why the interest in this particular case?
If your are asking about post # 37 then that article came from the Kerrville Daily Times as I cited and linked. However it appears that KDT now require online registration to read it. The story is still there online for a registration fee. The FLDS events at the YFZ location out of Eldorado Tx was followed on FR from the raid through court actions.
It’s just interesting to me because I have been following the FLD case, then out of the blue the Brendan Flowers case comes up. I am originally from Kerrville and was present during this particular trial.
Even though the jury would have been much tougher as you stated had he been able to go before the jury. Victims had to be escorted out of the court house property by B.A.C.A. because of hostilities towards victims.
They were being cursed at and obscene gestures were made towards the victims from a youth Christian group called Young Life. It was unbelievable!
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