Texas judge trying to decide what to do about more than 400 children removed from polygamist compound

NBC News
Reported by: Joe Vignolo, Kristen Dahlgren,
MSNBC.com

TEXAS - There is an incredible scene playing out in a Texas courtroom: a judge is trying to decide what to do about more than 400 children taken from a polygamist compound two weeks ago.

The hearing started Thursday and went late into the night. But with so many children and hundreds of lawyers representing them, they will be back in the courtroom Friday.

It was a hearing so big it spilled over into an overflow room.

Hundreds of attorneys, each representing at least one of the children, all trying to have their say.

So later Friday they will be back at it, weeding through evidence gathered at the FLDS compound after a 16-year-old girl named "Sarah" called alleging she was pregnant and had been forced to marry a much older man.

Officials still haven't located her, but on Thursday investigators testified that other girls at the compound told them they knew "Sarah."

Investigators also talked about a pattern of young women in what the sect called "spiritual" marriages.

"Parents cannot give consent under the age of 16. Between the 16 and 18, the parents can give consent, but they have to do it formally. It can't be an informal marriage," said attorney Mary Jo McCurley.

"What the state is trying to do here is tar all the families with the problems, or the alleged problems, of a few," said Rod Parker, lawyer for the sect.

Many of the parents were in court, but family ties are so confusing the state has asked for DNA tests.

"We would just love to get our children back," said one FLDS mother.

That will now be up to a judge, but with so many lawyers and so many lives at stake, it could be days before a decision is made.