Court: Texas had no right to take polygamists' kids 3 minutes ago

AP via Yahoo ^ | 5/22/08

[ElkGroveDan]

SAN ANGELO, Texas - A state appellate court has ruled that child welfare officials had no right to seize more than 400 children living at a polygamist sect's ranch.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the grounds for removing the children were "legally and factually insufficient" under Texas law. They did not immediately order the return of the children.

Child welfare officials removed the children on the grounds that the sect pushed underage girls into marriage and sex and trained boys to become future perpetrators.

The appellate court ruled the chaotic hearing held last month did not demonstrate the children were in any immediate danger, the only measure of taking children from their homes without court proceedings.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

"Aren’t there several underage children pregnant or already with child?"

That is what the state has alleged. It is also alleged by the mob here at FR that they were all impregnated by 50+ year old men. Both groups making allegations have, so far, failed to prove a darn thing.

When the state has enough information to actually charge someone with something, I am ready and willing to listen with an open mind. But it has to be noted that nearly two months post raid, not a soul has been charged with a single crime.

[tobyhill]

I don't know if the stories are true or not but it's the State's job to prove the case and apparently the appeals court doesn't see what the state has been claiming. Even if the state had reasonable cause to initially search, once they found out that the call was based on a idiot outside the state then they should have stopped, apologized and move on. These people really didn't look like the suing type before.

[gdani]

It seems that those of us who were worried about all that silly 'due process' stuff were right all along

Don't be silly. Due process if for people we like.

(/sarc)

[varina davis]

Do you really believe there is “nothing going on” in thousands of homes all across America? The FLDS ranch may be harmful to children, but where do the courts begin to take away children — searching every home in the country?

[Blood of Tyrants]

Do you have evidence that all 460 children were in danger? No, you do not. The state treated all the parents as if they were all pushing all of their children, even the newborns, into sex with adults, which is patently untrue. It is a HUGE violation of the rights of the parents to raise their children as they see fit.

[WayneS]

No they will not.

[Marie]

And if they're that motivated to assault a bunch of religious nuts and steal their kids, what happens when they decide that you're a religious nut?

BINGO.

[TADSLOS]

-—I suspect the Texas taxpayers will be footing the bill for this for a long time—

Yep. A stupid and expensive way to operate.

[Lurker]

The really sad thing is that many of us thought that some serious crimes did occur at the farm. This verdict is precisely what we were afraid of when we slammed the CPS and the local authorities for their actions.

Yep. But hey, we're just a couple of polygamist, child rapist supporters and that whole 'due process' thingy was just a smokescreen to conceal our true agenda...

L

[green iguana]

get your mind out of the gutter.

Where did that come from? Do you know anything about this cult? Anything?

[Centurion2000]

SAN ANGELO, Texas - A state appellate court has ruled that child welfare officials had no right to seize more than 400 children living at a polygamist sect's ranch.

OOPS ... guess due process does count for some things after all.

[Orange1998]

Yes but in the Waco fiasco the government made sure it was a one sided story by burning alive witnesses including women and children. I can only wonder if Waco case would have ended with a victory had they had witnesses.

[Ron Jeremy]

I’ll trust the Texas Rangers any day over a group whose leaders have a history of convictions for rape, accomplice to rape, sexual contact with a minor, and incest (found guilty in a court of law, not just in the media)

I don't really disagree with you, I just believe that it should be REALLY hard for the government to just go in and take a bunch of kids, including ones who there is no evidence were abused, and then seperating them from their mothers who didn't even abuse them.

[donna]

I’m not arguing the case. I haven’t been following it. But, I know the men marry underage girls. I’m asking what we should do when children are being abused - how do we get proof?

Sharia law is coming. What will we do?

[Orange1998]

what happens when they decide that you're a religious nut

Ask Janet Reno.

[svcw]

Not me.
Did CPS mess up? maybe. Did they over step? according to the court today, who knows about tomorrow
Are there girls under 17 who are pregnant or given birth? yes
Are there those who have fled and reported abuse? yes
What will happen now? unknown
Do I still believe this group is a cult? you betcha
Do I still there was and will be again abuse? oh yea
Will I make excuses for these fldsers? no

[webheart]

The child protectors think it takes a village.

They SAY that, but here we have an actual village, and they say, "Wait a minute. We didn't really mean 'village.'"

[AD from SpringBay]

Aren’t there several underage children pregnant or already with child...in any high school in the nation?

[goodwithagun]

First of all, refer to post #100. Second of all, if one child is in danger all children must be removed from the compound. This is based on the fact that if one child in a home is suspected of being abused, then all children in the home are removed. This just happens to be a case on 460 children.

This is a tricky situation. Again, if you refer the post #100 you will see why. At the same time, was the call from Colorado legitimate? I do not like the gov’t interfering with things like this and attempting to tell people how to raise their children. However, based on this guys history, would you want your children raised in this community?

[The KG9 Kid]

"... If you don’t do it right, you stand to jeopardize the whole case. And here we are.

Pie, meet face. Hope you enjoy it folks."

These FLDS people will have enough TX taxpayer money to rebuild their compound out of Italian pink marble when this is over. 450 individual civil rights lawsuits.

It's long past time for Americans to scrutinize the taxpayer liability caused by over-eager socialist government agencies that operate with almost no oversight and have powers to send black kevlar clad ninja cops against anyone who attracts their attention.