ELDORADO, Texas -- Jury selection is under way in the first criminal trial since Texas authorities raided a polygamist sects ranch last spring.
About 150 potential jurors spent Monday morning on folding chairs in a makeshift courtroom set up in a building next to the courthouse in tiny Schleicher County.
Raymond Jessop, 38, faces a charge of sexual assault of a child, stemming from his alleged marriage to an underage girl. Court documents indicate she gave birth to a daughter at the ranch when she was 16.
Prosecutors allege Jessop has nine wives. He faces an additional charge of bigamy but that will be tried later.
Jessop is the first man from the Yearning For Zion Ranch to go on trial since authorities raided the compound last April and swept all 439 children into state custody.
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