Temple beds
There are not enough hours in the day to get all my Web updates and daily stories done and then blog, too. So I am a bit behind on this one.
Last week, a lead attorney for FLDS parents had William John Walsh testify about Mormon and FLDS practices. He shot down one of the most inflammatory allegations made by Texas law officers about what they saw when they entered the sect's temple two weeks ago.
An affidavit filed in court by a Texas Ranger said that on April 5 an ex-FLDS member who had served as a confidential informant for Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran said there were beds in the temple where ''males over the age of seventeen engage in sexual activity with female children under the age of seventeen."
The ranger said that on that same day, officers entered the temple and saw a bed (later described as on the third floor) with rumpled linens and a ''strand of hair that appears to be from a female head.''
Okay, we bit. And then Walsh offered up an entirely different explanation for the beds-in-the-temple story.
Although he has never been inside the FLDS temple, Walsh said it was likely set up like an LDS Church temple.
LDS Church temples, he said, typically have several beds available in case people doing temple work -- marriage ceremonies, baptisms for the death -- become faint or feel ill.
It is common for members to fast before coming to the temple, Walsh said, and temple sessions often last several hours.
Sounds reasonable.
I have never been in a Mormon temple. Can anyone out there validate what Walsh said?
Last week, a lead attorney for FLDS parents had William John Walsh testify about Mormon and FLDS practices. He shot down one of the most inflammatory allegations made by Texas law officers about what they saw when they entered the sect's temple two weeks ago.
An affidavit filed in court by a Texas Ranger said that on April 5 an ex-FLDS member who had served as a confidential informant for Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran said there were beds in the temple where ''males over the age of seventeen engage in sexual activity with female children under the age of seventeen."
The ranger said that on that same day, officers entered the temple and saw a bed (later described as on the third floor) with rumpled linens and a ''strand of hair that appears to be from a female head.''
Okay, we bit. And then Walsh offered up an entirely different explanation for the beds-in-the-temple story.
Although he has never been inside the FLDS temple, Walsh said it was likely set up like an LDS Church temple.
LDS Church temples, he said, typically have several beds available in case people doing temple work -- marriage ceremonies, baptisms for the death -- become faint or feel ill.
It is common for members to fast before coming to the temple, Walsh said, and temple sessions often last several hours.
Sounds reasonable.
I have never been in a Mormon temple. Can anyone out there validate what Walsh said?
11 Comments:
All I can say is I would hate to be asked to prosecute a sex abuse case based on the fact that an officer found a bed with rumpled bedding and a strand of hair.
Why would anyone buy the assumption that such evidence proved that "dirty old men" had sex with innocent young girls.
During this intire circus you will find constant reference to the "50 year old man". It is used for sensationalism. "50 year old man" equals "dirty old man" and kicks in an emotional reaction.
Most in the media have graduated from Hearst's school of yellow journalism. Sensational stories sell papers. (and radio and TV ratings)
There was nothing to indicate that the bed was used for sex. Only that someone with long hair had probably lain on it.
Hopefully, everyone involved will get a fair hearing and the guilty will be charged and the innocent set free.
I'm just afraid that the only law west of the Pecos is the Texas CPS
Try reading the entire affidavit instead of just what the press reports.
What formed the basis of the probable cause was the following:
1) Identifying a pregnant 16 year old girl who was spiritually married.
2) Identifying a girl who was directed by Lee Roy Jessop to report her age at 18, but who was shown to be 15 when she became preganant. She is his four wife.
3) Identifying the spiritual wife of Jackson Jessop, who was pregnant at at 15.
4) Identifying a girl that had one child at age 15 and another at age 16.
5) Identifying a 16 year old that is spiritually married to Joseph Jeffs.
6) Identifying a pregnant 16 year old that is the spiritual wife of Nathan Jessop, who is currently still married to a previous wife.
7) Identifying the 16 year old spiritual wife of Richard Jessop Barlow, who has two other wifes. The 16 year old already has 4 children.
8) Observing a long hair on a bed in the temple, which supports the confidential informants statement that the bed was used for consumation of underage marriages.
Why, based on the above, would anyone try and deny that there is probable cause to believe that the FLDS men were abusing those poor children?
To TXbluesman, I think the problem with your comment is that those cited as pregnant or married before 16 were actually older women whose histories CPS workers traced back in time, not underage girls they currently found pregnant or spirtually married.
Until 2005 when the law was changed overtly to target FLDS, which moved to Texas the previous year, girls could marry at age 14 with parental consent. So it's quite possible that, whatever your personal feelings, those cases don't represent a legal basis to believe the same thing is going on now. The same fact pattern would fit if FLDS followed Texas law on marriage ages scrupulously - if you trace back in time, some could be legally married earlier than 16 without violating any law.
The elephant in the room is that they could easily pursue what in Texas statutes are called "bigamy" charges, but after Lawrence v Texas they're afraid they won't withstand constitutional muster. That's why all the DNA trail shenanigans to try to prove statutory rape.
Five girls between 16-19 were found on the YFZ Ranch pregnant. IMO they should identify the fathers through DNA if necessary, and if applicable charge statutory rape. Everyone else should be allowed to go home, unless the state intends to challenge the constitutionality of polygamous marriage.
Finally, one must make MANY unfriendly assumptions to get from a rumpled bed with female hair to the ritual defrocking of child brides. That was salacious media hype trying to justify a questionable police action, not any assertion anyone could prove in court.
Whoops, I meant "test" the constitutionality of polygamous marriage post-Lawrence. Obviously pre-Lawrence the constitutionality of polygamy bans had been upheld.
Interestinly, the FLDS may have chosen Texas in 2003 because Texas law allowed girls to marry at 14.
The 17 year old age seems to have been set in 2005.
We have worked in LDS temples. The beds in LDS temples are used for medical purposes such as those in a nurse's office within a public school.
What is this nonsense about "spiritual" marriage? Sounds like something Joey Smith or Mr. Young thought up to justify raping girls to honor god. You tire of one, pick out another. Make sure she takes off her roller skates and leaves behind her dolls and other toys.
The police detectives can very easily test the sheets for traces of semen, perhaps they have.
grits said
I think the problem with your comment is that those cited as pregnant or married before 16 were actually older women whose histories CPS workers traced back in time, not underage girls they currently found pregnant or spirtually married.
Even if you have several of the victims that your statement is true for, you are missing one key point - Lee Roy Jessop still inpregnated his 4th wife at age 15. He is the one that told her to say that she was 18 - with the date of birth that she gave, along with the date of birth of their son means that the pregnancy occurred when she was 15 years old. He condemned himself with his own words.
Until 2005 when the law was changed overtly to target FLDS, which moved to Texas the previous year, girls could marry at age 14 with parental consent. So it's quite possible that, whatever your personal feelings, those cases don't represent a legal basis to believe the same thing is going on now. The same fact pattern would fit if FLDS followed Texas law on marriage ages scrupulously - if you trace back in time, some could be legally married earlier than 16 without violating any law.
Remember, in order to marry before a minor's 18th birthday, even before the Legislature changed the law from 14 to 16, one had to do several things to comply with the law. First, the law requires that the parent provide a sworn statement to the county clerk that they have given permission to the minor to marry. Second, the parties to the marriage must obtain a license to marry - parental consent does not apply to common law or 'spiritual' marriages. Third, neither party can be legally married at the time that the license is applied for. Basically, the FLDS members did not comply with Texas law on the marriage of minors.
The elephant in the room is that they could easily pursue what in Texas statutes are called "bigamy" charges, but after Lawrence v Texas they're afraid they won't withstand constitutional muster.
Actually, there have been several Bigamy prosecutions since Lawrence v. Texas, and all have been upheld. In addition, Federal Courts in the 5th Circuit (which includes Texas) have held that Lawrence does not apply to situations involving Sexual Assault - and the Texas statute clearly states that it is Sexual Assault if the victim is a minor and is not legally married (which we already showed that they are not). Also, in an appeal acting a law relating sexual conduct of minors, the Texas Court of Appeals held that Lawrence did not apply.
Besides, the Utah bigamy / polygamy statute was challenged using Lawrence - the Federal Court held that Lawrence did not apply to Bigamy laws. I wouldn't hold my breath on Lawrence helping any.
I got a bloody nose once inside an LDS temple. I was taken to an area which reminded me much of the school nurse's office.
The sister's helped me get cleaned up, and went and got my things from the locker so I could get dressed. I laid down while I waited for the rest of the people I was there with.
I meant to add, I'm sure I left a hair behind, and some blood as well.
Anyone whose watched a CSI episode knows that intercourse leaves fluids behind, and that we can tell what those fluids are.
A hair by itself does not child felony rape make.
Fluids belonging to a 14 year old and a 55 year old does. But a hair left somewhere? I have long hair and leave hair all over.
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