Patterico's Pontifications

3/10/2010

Merril Jessop Trial Update

Filed under: Crime — DRJ @ 9:43 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

A jury was seated this morning in the sexual assault trial of Merril Jessop in San Angelo, Texas. The San Angelo Standard Times summarized counsels’ opening statements, starting with the State:

“[Eric] Nichols, who spoke first, said the indictment provided a basic “road map” of what the state’s evidence would show in the case.

He also said substantial genetic evidence would prove the assault beyond a reasonable doubt.

“You will hear that she was not legally married to the defendant. You’re going to hear about what is described as a so-called ‘spiritual’ or ‘celestial’ marriage. You will hear evidence that not only was she placed in a spiritual or celestial marriage, but that she bore him a child,” Nichols said.

Nichols said the girl in question was 15 at the time of the alleged assault.”

The jury heard next from the defense:

“[Dan] Hurley, for his opening statement, at one point motioned to the wooden railing at the front of the jury box.

“This rail here separates you from the government,” Hurley said. “It’s a shield. The state cannot reach its burden of proof because they might be guilty, because they’re probably guilty — they must be guilty.”

Hurley said large amounts of evidence came from the raid on the YFZ Ranch outside of Eldorado when authorities carried out a search warrant to find a girl who reported having suffered abuse on the ranch, a call that law enforcement authorities now believe to have been a hoax.

Hurley said that despite the evidence, the quantity won’t be enough to convict his client.

“You will hear about seizures and boxes of evidence that took three trailers to fill up. The simple weight does not give it the quality it needs,” Hurley said.”

The jury also heard at least three State witnesses — a DPS agent who testified about evidence seized at the Yearning for Zion ranch and two University of North Texas DNA experts who testified there is a 99% chance Merril Jessop is the father of the alleged assault victim’s child.

— DRJ

8 Responses to “Merril Jessop Trial Update”

  1. I do not like the pretext Texas used for the original raid. I sure as hell objected to the tyranny the entire community faced at the hands of Texas and a simpering judge. But….

    Assuming that the DNA evidence is not the fruit of a poison tree, I hope this guy rots.

    Ed from SFV (f6a87d)

  2. That phone call was sure a handy coincidence, huh?
    But if the guy’s guilty, rotting’s too good for him.
    Can’t think what would be just, you know, exactly right.
    I recall somebody introducing a Bircher as a “conspiracy theorist”, at which time the Bircher referred to the introducer as a “noted coincidence theorist”.

    Well, being lucky is a really good thing.

    Richard Aubrey (a9ba34)

  3. It’s been demonstrated, but not reported widely, that Rozita Swinton, the woman that made the call that set off the raid, was a “familiar” of the Colorado Springs Police Department’s head of “Internet Sex Crimes” sting operations, Lt. Maggie Santos. The relationship of Lt. Santos of Colorado Springs PD goes back 13-15 years. Lt. Santos once employed the phony phone caller and was present at her arrest in 2008.

    CSPD’s “IA” department KNEW the caller and characterized the relationship of Lt. Santos and the caller as being “common knowledge” around CSPD.

    Strangely, no one has investigated the relationship that Lt. Santos has personally admitted to having, and that Internal Affairs, was aware of.

    The FBI was involved in some of the sting operations.

    And Rozita made a call on a group that the FBI said they didn’t have anything on. The question always is, did someone give up and manufacture “cause?”

    Hugh McBryde (76f4d8)

  4. Hugh,
    You sure are a suspicious charcter, aren’t you.

    Richard Aubrey (6f375f)

  5. Hugh has something against lesbians I guess. If it was really important, people would have looked and Hugh would not have to go around panty sniffing.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  6. daley,
    There are a lot of important things some people make it a point not to look at.
    ACORN, for example.
    Considering the strangeness of the triggering event, this could be another one of them.

    Richard Aubrey (6f375f)

  7. “Considering the strangeness of the triggering event, this could be another one of them.”

    Richard – Not with Hugh ferreting out all those lesbians in Colorado Springs.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  8. For what it’s worth, I called Lt. Santos. She did know and did personally employ the hoax caller. According to Lt. Kirk Wilson of IA, she still knows her, something Maggie Santos lied about.

    I’m just curious was to why it is not important that, in view of the fact that Maggie ran an internet sex sting operation, and needed “little girl voices” as talent, that no one has dug deeper into this story. It’s a fact, I simply don’t have the resources to do so myself.

    Hugh McBryde (76f4d8)


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