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Sunday, March 14, 2010

Jurors have returned a guilty verdict for the first of several fundamentalist Mormons arrested for allegedly forcing underage girls into marriage.

The guilty verdict, returned against 38-year-old Raymond Merril Jessop, comes more than a year after child welfare workers raided the West Texas polygamist ranch and took hundreds of children into custody. 

The children have since been returned to their parents.

The verdict represents a big win for the state, which suffered a black eye after a state court ruled child welfare workers had overstepped their authority by removing the children from home.

Using genetic evidence, state attorneys argued this ...

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