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Local attorney weighs in on the FLDS case |
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Written by Thomas Watson
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Thursday, 24 April 2008 |
A local criminal defense attorney has a unique perspective about the ongoing custody battle between state officials and members of the Funda-mentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
John Young, although not directly involved with the FLDS case, has an office in San Angelo where the case is taking place. In addition, he represents the House of Yahweh in Callahan County, which re-cently made news when it came under fire for allegedly breaking child labor laws.
Officials in the latter case claimed that up to 40 children spent their days working in the religious sect’s fields, canning operation, cafeteria, and butter-making process.
Law enforcement officials said the alleged child labor had been going on since last Octo-ber, but had dropped off after House of Yahweh member Yedidiyah Hawkins was arrested on charges of sexually as-saulting his 14-year-old stepdaughter on Oct. 18. Hawkins’ aggravated sexual assault trial, originally scheduled for April 14, has been reset for May 19.
Young said that he thinks the FLDS case in San Angelo is probably the first case of its magnitude in the nation.
“I think Judge Barbara Walther is a very fine judge and a good person too, but I don’t envy her over the next few months,” he said.
“I do not think she is going to have time to work on anything else until this is over.”
“In a way, the idea to pursue this battle with an en masse type hearing isn’t fair to a lot of those parents,” Young said.
“For example, if the state finds out that your neighbor is abusing their underage child, and removes that child, then they remove your child too because you live next to them. A lot of this is probably due to a fear of those other people’s religions.
“Many people are worried about religion, especially when it differs from the norm, but most of the FLDS members are probably good people.
“I think that no matter what religion a person is, that person is entitled to the same rights of due process under the laws of our nation,” he said.
“I would expect that in the end, many of the children will be returned to their parents, and those parents that are found to still be under suspicion will face criminal charges. I would think that once the DNA testing results come back in a month or so, and if it proves that underage abuse or pregnancies occurred in a few cases, but not all, the state could be held liable by the innocent parents.”
When asked about the re-moval and placement of the children into foster homes, Young said he felt it was probably wrong to take all of the children from the Yearning for Zion Ranch.
“Child Protective Services is only doing what they think is right, but people should understand that, in all likelihood, most of the children may not be in danger of sexual abuse,” he said. “Many of the children were taken from their homes and may not even understand why. Now they are being placed into foster care homes away from their parents.
“Under family law statutes, CPS has an obligation to reunite the children with their natural parents if the reunification is possible; and if not possible, they have an obligation to place them with relatives or a suitable foster home. Until then, the children will more than likely remain separated from their parents.”
“It really is just a bad situation all the way around,” he said. “It is understandable that the state wants to separate the children from their parents until the abuse allegations are either proved or disproved, but this is costing the state money.
“Those children that were, and will be, placed into foster homes, whenever the state might need to recall them for testimony, it’s just more ex-pense for the state.”
Young is board certified in criminal law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and currently has law offices in both Sweetwater and San Angelo. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 25 April 2008 )
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