Legal News

Big Hearing on Tap This Week in Yearning for Zion Case

By Ashby Jones

Remember the Yearning for Zion Ranch, the insular polygamist part of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? It was about this time last year when a Texas state court of appeals ruled that the state of Texas had no right to seize more than 400 children from its compound.

While the media spotlight has dimmed a bit, the legal wrangling has continued. The latest: ten men from the west Texas ranch will be in court this week for a crucial hearing ahead of their trials on criminal charges including bigamy and felony sexual abuse of girls allegedly pressed into marriage.

During the April 2008 raid, law enforcement seized what authorities believe to be conclusive evidence of bigamy and underage marriages — including family photos, diaries, church records and computer files. The state also conducted DNA tests to determine familial relationships.

The 10 men from the Eldorado ranch who will be in court on Wednesday argue that Texas rangers illegally seized the photos and records during the raid. At the hearing in nearby San Angelo, they will press for the evidence to be thrown out of court, which could devastate the case. Click here for the WSJ story.

The Texas attorney general says the seizure was legitimate.

The sect is waging legal battles in other states and in Canada, weighing it down with legal bills just as the recession is constricting income.

One fight is in Utah, where the church, which broke from the mainstream Mormon church decades ago and continues to practice polygamy, is trying to regain control of a trust valued at more than $110 million.

With legal bills mounting, said Rod Parker, a church spokesman, “there’s a huge hemorrhaging of money.”

Financial troubles have prompted the sect to test new avenues for bringing in money. Members who once kept close to the gated compound are now taking construction jobs across several counties. Women of the church run an online venture selling ankle-length prairie dresses, handmade wooden toys and a DVD showing how to replicate their distinctive braided hairstyles. And the church ran an aggressive media campaign to mark the anniversary of the April 3 raid, even hosting Oprah Winfrey at the Eldorado ranch.

Photo: Associated Press

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 11, 2009 (boomark / email).