Polygamist sect claims evidence withheld

ELDORADO, Texas, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Parent members of a Texas fundamentalist Mormon sect are claiming they are being denied evidence of alleged child abuse and neglect.

Attorneys for some mothers at the YFZ Ranch say they have been at a legal disadvantage ever since a judge's July 24 order suspending discovery until a plan could be created. Texas Child Protective Services service respond that they remain swamped by other priorities in cases involving more than 400 children, the Deseret News reported Sunday.

"The judge went ahead and granted their request so CPS wasn't held to any sort of deadline or requirement," said Cynthia Martinez with the Texas RioGrande Legal Aid Society, which has gained a Sept. 4 hearing on the matter. "Our argument is that shouldn't have happened."

Child Protective Services attorney Charles Childress argue it is the costs in time and money of responding to discovery requests that is the real problem.

"In a case with more than 140 mothers and 400 children, all of whom have lawyers, we maintain, and hope to show at the hearing on Sept. 4, that formal discovery ... is virtually impossible," he wrote.