Court Corrects FLDS Raid Travesty

One evening, back when I was a prosecutor, we were all having a few beers. An eager zealot in our office broke the mood, by asking one of the public defenders how he could defend child molesters. He told her that he slept very well at night, because every day he defended and gave life to the constitution.

The response was right off the top of an Iowa cornstalk—but it also happens to be true.

Without the courts and criminal defense lawyers, getting their clients off on “technicalities”, it would not be long before we were living in a police state.

And the courts have come through again. The Texas Court of Appeals has ruled it will issue a Writ of Mandamus ordering Child Protective Services to release the kids seized from the FLDS compound .

The first clue this was all very wrong was when the newscasts showed pictures of the kids being herded into “First Baptist” Buses—which is apparently an approved religion in Texas.

Then we found out that it all started when a pretend sixteen year old girl called a domestic violence hotline (which specializes in investigating the FLDS) and made up some details on how she was being abused by an old guy, who had not been in Texas for thirty years.

Looking at this most favorably to the police, they were duped.

Regardless, the cops went out to the compound to investigate. They never found the pretend girl, but noticed some pregnant teenage girls—as if that is something quite unusual these days. They then applied for a search warrant with an affidavit based upon that observation, and filled it with a number of speculative conclusions that all the children were being abused.

And so four hundred and forty children were removed from their mothers and placed in state custody. A two day hearing was held, after which Judge Barbara Walther concluded that all the children were in immediate danger, based upon perhaps as much as five minutes of testimony regarding each child.

As it turned out, only five underage teenagers were pregnant. There was no evidence the others were being abused in any way.

One girl actually turned out to be eighteen, but no one had, up until this week, cared what her birth certificate said.

The correct thing to do would have been to investigate the pregnancy of the underage teenagers, and prosecute those responsible—not place all the children in the wonderful care of the state, because some of them might, possibly, maybe, someday be in danger of being sexually molested.

The FLDS is creepy and sick—they abuse children and enslave women. But, what is even worse is a police state that can rip families apart because we do not like their religion or way of life. The only time that extreme measure is justified is when real proof is presented that the children are in imminent danger.

In a free society the issue can not be whether the children are not being raised in the best way, or even a poor way—but whether they are in such extreme danger that the state has no choice but to rip the family apart.

Otherwise, the government will come in if parents are feeding their kids too much sugar, smoking in their presence, homeschooling, spanking, letting them watch too much TV, exposing them to gay people , disapproved sex ed instruction, indoctrination in subversive political viewpoints, kooky religions---or whatever the stewards of the public good are concerned about at the time, or is the cause dejur.

The Writ is a victory for all American families--and the constitution.

But just the same, I would like to outlaw those overachieving pompadours, not to mention the prairie dresses that make the ladies look like living Easter Peeps.



UPDATE: I see that Child Protective Services is appealing the decision of the Appeals Court to the Texas Supreme Court. This particular panel of the Appeals Court is one of the more conservative in Texas (two of its members having been appointed by Governor Perry) and I guess CPS and the prosecutors are hoping that the Texas Supreme Court will take a more activist approach to the extension of the power of the state.

The Appeal Court's decision is strong and well reasoned, and most legal commentators agree with it. However former Factor regular, and current CNN junior legal wag, Sonny Hostin begs to differ. She believes since the kids are members of a church that practices polygamy this is sufficient for the state to take the action they did--why even have any hearings at all?

I am quite un-libertarian, in believing that it would be nice if polygamy could be successfully outlawed--it is the patriarchy on steroids--enslaves women, and almost always devolves into incest and pedophilia. However, there are those who disagree with my observations, there are exceptions, and none of those results are official tenets of plural marriage theology.

In our modern society it is virtually impossible to prosecute polygamy. Are we also going to prosecute swingers and guys who cheat on their wives? Not only is it impractical--but unconstitutional--at least since the US Supremes correctly ruled that the State of Texas had no business creeping into bedrooms to ensure that no consensual homosexual actviites were taking place.

What Texas should do is vigorously prosecute those who have committed a crime. There should also be involvement with the mothers--and they should be told, in no uncertain terms, what the age of consent is in Texas and that "spiritual marriages" don't cut it--and the consequences if they participate in a violation of the laws regarding child abuse.

But there should not be a state sponsored gang rape of all the families.

This is the kind of thing the state will do with unpopular groups--whether they are right wing militias, communists, gays or polygamists. On virtually no evidence (some of which in this case was made up), other than conjecture, the most extreme measures are taken, and some real basic rights, liberties and freedoms piously ignored and trampled.

~Becky

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UPDATE: Today the Texas Supreme Court, in a ruling that should not be surprising to anyone who realizes that, despite it all, America is still a land of laws--and treasures and protects freedom and liberty--and the family unit, affirmed the Appellate Court ruling. The kids are going back to their family.

One of the sad things about this is the State of Texas and CPS actually caused more harm and weakened the very thing they were fighting and trying to eliminate. These sick people do need to have the state involved in their lives, watching, monitoring and advising to ensure that the statutory rape stops. Part of achieivng this is gaining the trust of the mothers and the children--this was hardly the way to go about it.

If the reports can be believed, there were five underage pregnant girls. Hopefully, those cases will be vigorously pursued, and the perpetrator(s), including the mothers if complicity can be shown, will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

~Becky