This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Former polygamous sect elder Wendell Nielsen is going to trial in Midland. Read Matthew Waller's story in the San Angelo Standard-Times here.
Judge Barbara Walther will still preside over the trial.
The city seems like it's close to the same size as San Angelo, according to Google - population 129,000 in Midland, 111,000 in San Angelo.
(The airport seems bigger in Midland, though, or at least there are more flights in and out. Is that due to oil industry traffic? I flew into Midland during the Warren Jeffs trial and drove into San Angelo. )
Wendell's case is interesting because it's the only straight bigamy case out of the dozen that were filed against FLDS men following the 2008 raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch.
All the others had some kind of underage marriage attached, but in Wendell's case the three women he's charged with marrying Nielsen were middle-aged. His attorney may argue, as he has in the past, that the bigamy law is unconstitutional, which could make for some interesting debate. (Wendell, by the way, actually had more like 20+ wives, according to documents seized in the raid).
Also interesting? Wendell's going to trial because he rejected a plea deal that would have made him the only FLDS member to get probation. The conditions Walther imposed were similar to a sex offender, and would have barred him from seeing his family aside from the son he's said to be living with in Colorado.
Wendell was reportedly excommunicated from the FLDS early last year, one of the powerful men among the first to go when Warren Jeffs started throwing people out by the dozen. Though I heard that another formerly high-ranking elder, Merril Jessop, was allowed back in (halfway) as a caretaker for his family before he went to trial, as far as I know Wendell's still out.
Wendell is the 11th FLDS man to go to trial. By my count, only YFZ Ranch doctor Lloyd Barlow is left, and his failure to report child abuse charges were dropped to misdemeanors.