A Tom Green County jury deliberated just over an hour Wednesday before returning with a guilty verdict against Merril Leroy Jessop, 35, of the YFZ Ranch. He was convicted of sexual assault of a child, in connection with his marriage to an underage polygamous bride. The jury also agreed with the first-degree enhancement, meaning Jessop could face up to 99 years in prison. The enhancement was an option because the crime took place after a new law went into effect in 2005. Jessop was immediately taken from the courtroom in handcuffs as the jury and court personnel took a 90-minute lunch break. Judge Walther ordered everyone to return after lunch so the penalty phase of the trial could get underway.
The punishment phase of the trial was underway as The Success went to press Wednesday afternoon. Any new developments will be posted on our website at www.myeldorado.net and sent by email to our E-Delivery subscribers.
Documents seized during the April 2008 raid on the YFZ Ranch are being used by Salt Lake City accountant Bruce Wisan as he exercises his role as Special Fiduciary over the United Effort Plan Trust, the one-time financial arm of the FLDS Church. Records filed in the Utah Supreme Court reveal that Wisan is in possession of hundreds of pages of documents taken from the ranch, some of which reveal that FLDS Prophet Warren Jeffs continues to exercise his authority over the FLDS faithful in order to resist Wisan’s management of the UEP Trust, as ordered by the Utah courts.
Merril Leroy Jessop was sentenced to 75 years in prison and fined $10,000 by a Tom Green County jury on Friday, March 19, 2010. The same jury convicted him only two days earlier for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl who had been placed with him in a so-called spiritual or celestial marriage by FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs. The crime qualified as a first-degree felony because it occurred after a 2005 law went into effect. Jessop’s sentence came after two days of testimony during the trial’s penalty phase. Two days in which his attorneys sought to prove that former FLDS members, known as apostates, were conspiring against the FLDS community and its members. And, at one point, the defense team accused Judge Barbara Walther of signaling her feelings about the case to the jury panel.
More than two years after being booked into the Mohave County Jail in Kingman AZ, Warren Jeffs learned this week that he will stand trial in November on charges that he ordered a polygamous marriage between one of his underage female followers and her older cousin, and that he presided over the wedding ceremony. He was convicted in Utah on two similar charges in 2007 when he was sentenced a pair of consecutive five-to-life terms in the Utah state penitentiary.
Arizona authorities swept into the twin cities of Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah early Tuesday morning where they raided the Colorado City Fire Department, the Colorado City Search and Rescue Department and a Fire Department substation in Hildale Utah. Warrants were reportedly served at a total of four emergency service buildings, as well as the homes of Fire Chief Jake Barlow and City Manager David Darger.
It appears Lehi Barlow Jeffs will stand trial in Eldorado on a charge of Sexual Assault of a Child beginning April 26th. County Clerk Peggy Williams said that she and her staff sent out 300 jury summons last Thursday. A pretrial hearing is slated for Jeffs on Thursday, April 15th in 51st District Court in San Angelo. Meanwhile, Jeffs’ attorney, Randy Wilson of Abilene, filed a number of motions recently on behalf of his client. Among other things Wilson wants:
A Tom Green County jury deliberated just over an hour Wednesday before returning with a guilty verdict against Merril Leroy Jessop, 35, of the YFZ Ranch. He was convicted of sexual assault of a child, in connection with his marriage to an underage polygamous bride. The jury also agreed with the first-degree enhancement, meaning Jessop could face up to 99 years in prison.
Merril Leroy Jessop was sentenced to 75 years in prison and fined $10,000 by a Tom Green County jury on Friday, March 19, 2010. The same jury convicted him only two days earlier for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl who had been placed with him in a so-called spiritual or celestial marriage by FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs. The crime qualified as a first-degree felony because it occurred after a 2005 law went into effect.
Arizona authorities swept into the twin cities of Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah early Tuesday morning where they raided the Colorado City Fire Department, the Colorado City Search and Rescue Department and a Fire Department substation in Hildale Utah. 
It appears Lehi Barlow Jeffs will stand trial in Eldorado on a charge of Sexual Assault of a Child beginning April 26th. County Clerk Peggy Williams said that she and her staff sent out 300 jury summons last Thursday.