Published: April 15, 2008 11:37 pm         

Officials can’t make legal mistakes in polygamist case

The recent raid on the polygamist retreat in Texas has many legal implications.

Authorities in Texas apparently had been watching the compound for at least four years but had no cause to do anything about the alleged activities going on inside. That changed, they say, when they got a frantic phone call from a girl allegedly inside the compound. The girl told police she had been forced to marry a 50-year-old man and had been raped.

That was the probable cause they needed, authorities say, to go in and raid the compound. What they found was a large group of mostly women and children and several young pregnant girls. The group is reportedly part of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints group.

The first legal question surrounds the alleged call and the true identity of the caller. She has yet to be located. Authorities likely are going to have to prove her existence in order to make any cases against the group stick.

Other legal concerns surround the separation of the young children from their mothers. Some women in the sect have said they were lied to about being separated from their children.

We expect there to be several legal challenges to this case. No matter how much outrage there is regarding polygamy and the idea of young girls being married off to older men, it’s important all aspects of the case follow the proper legal protocol.

FLDS practices polygamy in arranged marriages, sometimes between underage girls and older men. Over history, the group has been swept up in raids because of their lifestyle and their history.

This case will be another test for the age-old question of religious freedom versus exploitation of children.

For the children’s sake, authorities can’t afford for this case to fall apart because of any legal mistakes.