San Angelo, USA - A couple from a polygamist West Texas sect won a small victory Monday, even as their custody hearing was put on hold.
Judge Martha Tanner of the 166th District Court granted Lori and Joseph Jessop Sr. a temporary restraining order against the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, along with the temporary custody they had already gained of their three children.
Meanwhile, lawyers for parents in a separate custody case filed in Bexar County dropped their lawsuit to regain full custody of nine children for two families, saying they'll use a different strategy.
"We do not intend to let it go at this point, and we'll be in the process of seeking review through the district court in San Angelo," said Gerald Goldstein, representing Rulon and LeLand Keate.
A district court in Bexar County ruled May 23 that the Jessops and Keates, members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, should be temporarily reunited with their children, 12 in all, after they and about 460 others were taken by the state in an early April raid.
Investigators entered the FLDS' Yearning For Zion Ranch on a telephone tip about abuse that has since been discredited as a hoax. While there, they saw what they said were numerous underage girls who were pregnant or had children.
The Texas Supreme Court late last month upheld a 3rd Court of Appeals ruling that the state didn't have enough evidence to order into foster care every child who lived at the YFZ Ranch. But the court allowed restrictions to be placed on the families' living arrangements, including continuing the criminal investigation into alleged abuse.
The Jessops, by pursuing legal claims in a Bexar County court after one of their children was moved there, have gained more freedom from those restrictions.
The Jessops and their lawyers were squaring off against lawyers from the state Attorney General's Office on Monday when AG lawyer Frank King filed a plea arguing that the case should be heard in the West Texas court where it originated.
Tanner ruled that the plea was actually a motion to dismiss and denied it, a move the state was ready for.
After dispatching another lawyer out of the courtroom, King stood to say his office was filing an appeal, putting a stop to the hearing until the 4th Court of Appeals rules on it.
Tanner agreed to the stay, but issued the restraining order that for now keeps CPS investigators from continuing their investigation.