Criminal trials set in polygamist case

http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=247444

SAN ANGELO -- Trial dates have been set for most of the indicted men from the West Texas ranch of a polygamist sect.

State District Judge Barbara Walther, in San Angelo, set trial dates Thursday for 10 of 12 men indicted after last year's raid on the ranch. The polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints owns the ranch.

The first trial will be Oct. 26 for 37-year-old Raymond Merril Jessop. He's charged with sexual assault of a child and bigamy for two separate alleged underage marriages.

The second trial will be for 57-year-old Allan Keate, on Dec. 7. He faces a sexual assault charge.

Eight other trials are set for next year.

Sect leader Warren Jeffs has already been convicted in Utah of rape by accomplice and faces trial in Arizona before he's set in Texas.