http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5954167.html
Excerpts
SAN ANGELO, Texas — A 14-year-old girl allegedly married to jailed polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs with her parents' blessing at age 12 was ordered back into foster care Tuesday by a Texas judge.
District Judge Barbara Walther said that there was "uncontroverted evidence of the underage marriage" and that the girl's mother, Barbara Jessop, refused to guarantee the girl's safety. The girl, shown in photographs submitted to the court kissing Jeffs, must immediately enter foster care.
Her 11-year-old brother, whom Texas child welfare authorities also wanted placed in foster care, will be allowed to stay with his mother but will have to undergo psychological evaluation in the next month.
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Lawyers reached settlements Tuesday before hearings were held on the other children they had sought to return to foster care. The five girls in those cases can stay with their mothers, provided the women restrict contact with men accused of being involved in underage marriages and comply with other, more routine custody-related court orders.
The agreements technically put the children in state custody, but the state has agreed to let them stay with their mothers as long as they comply with the agreements.
In the case of the 14-year-old allegedly married to Jeffs, Walther said she felt she had to place the girl in foster care because Jessop "was unable to provide assurances that she'd be able to protect the child in the future."
On Monday, Jessop, 55, refused to answer about 50 questions asked by attorneys for Child Protective Services, including what constituted abuse, the names of her children, her relationship with their father and whether a parent had an obligation to protect her children.
"I stand on the Fifth (Amendment)," she said repeatedly.
Her attorney Gonzalo Rios said she was exercising her right against self-incrimination because of the continuing criminal investigation. Two of her husband's sons have been indicted on charges of sexual assault of a child, as has Jeffs.
Invoking the Fifth Amendment can protect Jessop in a criminal case. But previous court rulings have found that negative inferences can be made in civil cases, like the child custody case, if she refuses to answer.
Rios said after the hearing that Jessop's decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment probably hurt her custody case, but he plans to argue on appeal that the welfare agency didn't make a reasonable effort to keep the family together, as required under Texas law.
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After some thought, I believe this is the girl they are talking about:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0527081flds3.html
Merrianne (Jessop) Jeffs
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