Posted on 05/22/2008 10:46:31 AM PDT by 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.
CPS is not going to take this lying down. They tried twice to get into the ranch, I think yesterday, but were turned away because they had no search warrant.
My husband’s theory is that someone wants the ranch property really bad. The FLDS paid $700,000 for the ranch but now it’s worth millions.
Pardon, but they already issued a writ of mandemus - under TX lay, it is stayed for ten days.
The writ said, “RELEASE THE CHILDREN.”
Of course, that gives CPS ten days to appeal, and ask for a stay of the writ.
Isn’t law fascinating?
(IANAL- I am a mathematician...LOL)
Don’t feel guilty by any means either. It can’t be understated at all.
If the darling innocent mommies & daddies would tell the truth we'd have it.
DNA testing takes time.
The lawsuits might make this FLDS folks very rich.
CPS=fools.
Pardon me?
What married 14 yo?
Care to name one?
I did say 'projection' a few times.
In retrospect it's far beyond projection.
We're dealing with a bunch of Fascists here on FR.
What is that gonna prove? Are you being serious? Silly?
Dumb?
Ignorant?
What?
Spell it out genius.
I think what happened is that the Texas Rangers and other law enforcement organizations were preparing to take action against the FLDS, but the bogus call to the shelter caused everthing to be sped up. I think the law enforcement officers acted in good faith. It would have been quite different if a they had conspired to call in a fake report of abuse to get a warrant.
“those kids would have run straight to their mother’s... especially in that situation they were in.”
I would like to be there when the kids are reunited with their mothers. I hope it happens soon. I am worried, though, that CPS will continue with their march of destruction not wanting to be publicly humiliated. I think they’d rather sacrifice these kids than admit they screwed up.
I’m not sure how this will play out. I suspect if the children are returned plans are already underway to take them out of state or country..... In any case the court system must follow the laws as written, for good or bad.
From the Houston Chronicle:
SAN ANGELO — A Texas appeals court ruled today that a San Angelo judge exceeded her discretion when she ordered the state to take custody of children from a polygamist sect.
The order by a panel of the 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin gave State District Judge Barbara Walther 10 days to vacate her order, which applied to more than 460 children.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the decision means the children will be returned right away to the custody of their parents, followers of a breakaway Mormon sect called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The state could ask the 3rd Court to reconsider the unanimous ruling by the three-judge panel, or it could appeal to the Texas Supreme Court, experts noted.
end snip
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5796565.html
If you give the police to raid based upon evidence that they believe they will get after they raid, then you're taking us quite far from the American Way. You're giving free license!
We should probably amend the Constitution to read,
"[...]no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."Oh, wait...it already does! I'm shocked!
Then perhaps we need to amend it to state that the Oath or affirmation must be from the person who actually witnessed the crime...or even from someone who heard someone else claim that they witnessed a crime.....
For this case, of course, we don't even have that!
It is very interesting to watch when polygamist families are split apart. Some of the wives do leave the polygamist arrangement and start over again with their children. Others wait for the father of their children to get out of prison. Tom Green springs to mind, he had 4 or 5 wives, when he was convicted and sent to prison, one of the wives left and went to beauty school. The other wives waited for him, but the conditions of his probation are that he not have any contact (sexual?) with anyone except his legal wife. However, Green and his legal wife live in a duplex, his 3 other ‘spiritual’ wives live in the same area.
No.
Somewhere on this thread I posted a "simple" outline of the procedural process. This case has put on the table, in MASS, a CPS tactical "shift." If the perpetrator is removed, then the child/children are no longer in "danger." Every single parent, and each household, has been lumped into one single classification. No other means of rectifying the "situation" was attempted. Swat teams, tanks, and armed "personnel" stormed in to take the children. Pregnant women were "incarcerated" and "deemed" underage until the pregnancies were terminated via birth and the infant became "property" of the state; later finding the pregnant women to be "of age" and the infant in state custody.
Children are removed only when the danger remains. The mother's were willing to leave and go with their children to prevent what is occurring. Family members ... why weren't ANY of the children placed with ANY relative? There is certainly reports of family who tried to rescue these children from this onslaught.
This was certainly NOT how CPS is suppose to operate, which is why MHMR staff spoke out. It is one of the lying, manipulative, and unlawful tactics used by this dysfunctional and all too powerful agency.
...but as long as warrants are issued on hearsay of hearsay, then we are opening the door for fake reports. After all, what's the point of the Fourth Amendment's requirement of an "Oath or affirmation" to get a warrant, if the Oath or affirmation can just be "yeah, someone told me that someone told me that something happened, and I don't even know who those people are."
Heck, I know it sounds far-fetched, but you could even have a nutcase in Colorado initiate an armed raid in Texas based on fake accusations about a guy who's actually in Arizona...a raid where automatic weapons and armored personnel carriers are called out to round up women and children.
Okay, so maybe I went a bit overboard...I know that would never happen in America...but do you get my point?
I added the KIDNAPPING keyword to the whole thread, because if you or I did what CPS did, that’s what you would get charged with.
Since this was done outside the law, it is kidnapping.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.