Salt Lake City, USA - A federal judge has rejected a polygamous sect's request that educational material seized during a traffic stop in Colorado in October be returned.
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints also wanted U.S. District Judge Robert E. Blackburn to prohibit the content of the documents from being disclosed in court proceedings - a request the judge turned down.
The FLDS church, which has historically been based in the twin cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., had asked the court to return a portion of the "purely religious documents." They were seized after two members of the church were arrested after a traffic stop in Pueblo County, Colo., on Oct. 28.
The church said the items it wanted were Alta Academy devotional lessons given in 1998 and 1999 and Young Priesthood History Joseph Smith handouts for the eighth grade.
FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, currently a fugitive, was principal of Alta Academy during those years; he is being sought by the FBI on an Arizona charge of contributing to and conspiring to cause sexual misconduct with a minor.
The documents were among other "sacred church records" being delivered to an FLDS compound in Texas by "my trusted couriers, Seth Jeffs and Nathaniel Allred," an FLDS bishop told the court. Seth Jeffs is charged with concealing a wanted person.
In his ruling Tuesday, Blackburn said he accepted the material as religious but disagreed that their content is irrelevant to the prosecution of Seth Jeffs.
Blackburn said the church failed to show how it might be harmed if the material were not returned, noting it appears it has access to copies of the documents.
Blackburn also said the "incantation" that the documents are sacred is not enough to warrant a protective order to prevent their use in court proceedings.