Eldorado, USA - A district court hearing in Eldorado to quash indictments against 12 members of an FLDS polygamous sect was cut short after the defense attorneys presented a motion to disqualify the judge, 51st District Judge Barbara Walther.
The defense claims the judge's role in selecting a grand jury commissioner to choose the grand jury that issued the indictments interferes with her role in judging the case at trial.
The defense, represented by lead attorney Jerry Goldstein, also argued that the grand jury composition underrepresented Hispanics, with only one on the 12-person jury in a town that is 37.5 percent Hispanic.
The 12 men indicted are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the polygamous sect that resides on the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Schleicher County. Most of the indictments allege sexual assault of a child associated with the sect's practice of men taking multiple "spiritual wives," some of whom are alleged to be younger than the Texas age of consent.
In the first trial, held in November, Raymond Merril Jessop was found guilty of sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony, and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Jury selection for the second case, involving Allan Eugene Keate, was postponed to Tuesday to allow the disqualification motion to be heard. The hearing convenes at 11 a.m. in Eldorado.
The judge who will hear the motion was not named during Friday's hearing, but Walther told the defense "in anticipation of your motion" another judge was on standby.
The charge against Keate is a first-degree felony because the crime is alleged to have occurred after the Texas Legislature added an enhancement, which means he would face a penalty of five to 99 years in prison if convicted.