Eldorado, USA - After two hearings lasting 12 hours Monday, the stage is set for the trial of Allan Eugene Keate, beginning today in the Memorial Building in Eldorado.
Judge Barbara Walther, known for marathon courtroom sessions, presided over a joint consolidated motion by the defense attorneys for 10 members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on Monday in the same makeshift courtroom where last month Raymond Merril Jessop was convicted of child sexual abuse and sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Schleicher County jury.
Keate is the second of the 10 to go to trial on a charge of child sexual abuse based on evidence acquired during the state's historic raid in April 2008 on the Yearning For Zion Ranch, the 1,700-acre community near Eldorado operated and inhabited by members of the polygamist sect.
Attorneys for the sect members argued Monday that the indictments against their clients should be quashed because the Schleicher County grand jury that issued the indictments did not have enough Hispanic members to represent the community profile in accordance with the accused men's civil rights. Walther denied the motion in a hearing that ended a few minutes before 11 p.m.
Walther denied a motion to disqualify her on the basis of her being a potential witness in the grand jury challenge after she was told that a different judge wouldn't be assigned to hear the motion to disqualify.
Walther said she would not serve as a witness and said, “I know of no constitutional grounds for disqualification.”
The FLDS legal team, led by Jerry Goldstein, had argued that Walther should not be allowed to hear the motion against the indictment because she had a role in selecting the grand jury commissioner.
Keate is alleged to have taken an underage girl as a "spiritual" wife. Having sex with an underage girl is a first degree felony, punishable by five to 99 years in prison. The FLDS practices polygamy as part of its religious beliefs, with the men sometimes taking "spiritual" or "celestial" wives in addition to their legal spouses.
Jessop was convicted of a second degree felony because he committed his crime prior to a change in Texas law that added a first degree enhancement. The allegation against Keate involves an act the state says occurred after the enhancement, and the penalty he faces is more severe.
The evidence against the 10 men who were indicted on child sex abuse charges was gathered largely during the April 2008 raid on the ranch, which was mounted by authorities acting on a call that was later determined to be a hoax. What Child Protective Services workers saw at the ranch prompted them to request removal of all the children there — 437 of them. A marathon of custody hearings followed, but the children were ultimately restored to their families.
Law enforcement workers removed trailer-loads of documents during the raid, and indictments against the sect's men were issued late in 2008. Defense lawyers have sought to have the evidence suppressed by arguing that the original search warrant was based on false information, but Walther after a four-day session in May decided the argument did not merit a hearing.
A motion last week by the state to change the venue of Keate's trial to Tom Green County was denied by Walther. The 51st District judge has presided over all the FLDS cases, both civil and criminal, from the beginning, except Monday's hearing to recuse her from the motion to quash the indictments and the higher court rulings in the summer of 2008 that overturned some of her findings in custody matters.
Keate is represented by Abilene attorney Randy Wilson.