FLDS: Second member of the sect, Allen Keate, trial date set for sexual abuse of a child…

Go SanAngelo Standard-Times Nov 12, 2009

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Jury members will again be pulled from Schleicher County for a second sexual assault of a child trial involving a member of a polygamist sect.

Authorities decided Thursday afternoon to hold the jury trial in Eldorado, according to district clerk administrators.

District Clerk Peggy Williams said she plans to send out 300 notices today. Jurors will be pulled from voter registration rolls and driver’s license records.

Allen Keate will be tried Dec. 7 on a charge of sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony that carries a punishment of two to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.

An April 2008 raid of the sect’s Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado resulted in the removal of more than 400 children and criminal charges against 12 Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints men.

The Texas Supreme Court later ordered the state to return most of the children to their parents.

In the first trial against Raymond Merril Jessop, nearly half of the 300 prospective jurors were excused or exempted before prospective voire dire, a time when jurists are questioned on their backgrounds and potential biases against the defendant.

The jury convicted Jessop of sexual assault of a child last week. The jury earlier this week sentenced Jessop to 10 years in prison and fined him $8,000. He remains in jail in Schleicher County pending a transfer to state prison.

IMHO
FACTNet

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Posted by David Pike on November 14, 2009.
Filed under: News