1 1 REPORTER'S RECORD 2 TRIAL COURT CAUSE NO. 995 3 THE STATE OF TEXAS ) IN THE DISTRICT COURT 4 ) VS. ) SCHLEICHER COUNTY, TEXAS 5 ) MERRIL LEROY JESSOP ) 51ST JUDICIAL DISTRICT 6 ________________________________________________________ 7 8 9 ------------------------------ 10 EXCERPT OF PROCEEDINGS 11 Testimony of 12 Rebecca Musser 13 ------------------------------ 14 15 16 17 18 19 On the 15th and 18th day of March, 2010, the 20 following excerpt of proceedings came on to be heard in 21 the above-entitled and numbered cause before the 22 Honorable Barbara Lane Walther, Judge Presiding, held in 23 San Angelo, Tom Green County, Texas; 24 Proceedings reported by machine shorthand. 25 2 1 A P P E A R A N C E S 2 FOR THE STATE: 3 Mr. Stephen R. Lupton 51st District Attorney 4 SB# 12699700 124 W. Beauregard, Ste B 5 San Angelo, TX 76903-5850 (325) 659-6583 6 7 Mr. Eric Nichols Office of Attorney General 8 State of Texas SB# 14994900 9 P. O. Box 12548; MC-048 Austin, Texas 78711-2548 10 (512) 463-2170 11 Mr. Wesley Mau Office of Attorney General 12 State of Texas SB# 00784539 13 P. O. Box 12548; MC-048 Austin, Texas 78711-2548 14 (512) 936-1338 15 FOR THE DEFENDANT: Mr. Daniel W. Hurley 16 Hurley & Guinn SB# 10310200 17 1805 13th St. Lubbock, Texas 79401 18 (806) 771-0700 19 Mr. Brandon Hudson Daniel & Hudson, PLLC 20 SB# 50511660 115 E. Travis, Suite 1630 21 San Antonio, TX 78205 (210) 222-2297 22 Mr. Neil Calfas 23 Attorney-at-Law SB# 50511505 24 540 S. St. Mary's St. San Antonio, Texas 78205 25 3 1 STATE'S EVIDENCE 2 STATE'S WITNESSES Direct Cross Voir Dire 3 Rebecca Musser 3,13 83,185 12,29 37,160 193 4 186,187 5 Reporter's Certificate ........................... 204 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 March 15, 2010- Guilt/Innocence 2 3 REBECCA MUSSER, 4 having been first duly sworn, testified as follows: 5 DIRECT EXAMINATION 6 BY MR. NICHOLS: 11:01AM 7 Q. Ma'am, good morning. Would you please 11:01AM 8 introduce yourself to the jury. 11:01AM 9 A. Good morning. My name is Rebecca Musser. 11:01AM 10 Q. Ms. Musser, where do you live? 11:01AM 11 A. I live in Idaho. 11:01AM 12 Q. And, Ms. Musser, where were you born? 11:01AM 13 A. I was born in Hildale, Utah. 11:01AM 14 Q. Ms. Musser, could you please describe for the 11:01AM 15 jury in your own words the community into which you were 11:01AM 16 born? 11:01AM 17 A. Hildale, Utah is the border town in southern 11:01AM 18 Utah. It borders Colorado City, Arizona. The two 11:01AM 19 cities combined are primarily -- 11:01AM 20 MR. CALFAS: I'm going to object, Your 11:01AM 21 Honor. It's non-responsive. 11:01AM 22 MR. NICHOLS: I asked her to describe the 11:01AM 23 community, Your Honor. She's describing it. 11:01AM 24 THE COURT: Overruled. 11:01AM 25 THE WITNESS: The two communities together 5 11:01AM 1 are primarily a community where members of the 11:01AM 2 Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ lived. That 11:01AM 3 property is owned by the church and they portion it out 11:02AM 4 and assign it to the different members of the church, 11:02AM 5 and so they keep and care for it. And it's very 11:02AM 6 important to them that they keep only members as much as 11:02AM 7 they can. Only members of their faith live there. 11:02AM 8 Q. Now, Ms. Musser, and pardon me for asking, but 11:02AM 9 can you please tell the jury what year you were born? 11:02AM 10 A. I was born in 1976. 11:02AM 11 Q. Ms. Musser, who are your parents? 11:02AM 12 A. My father is Lloyd Wall and my mother is Sharon 11:02AM 13 Steed. 11:02AM 14 Q. And, Ms. Musser, after you were born in 11:02AM 15 Hildale, Utah, the community that you described for the 11:02AM 16 jury, did your family remain in Hildale? 11:02AM 17 A. No. My father lived in Salt Lake. My mother 11:02AM 18 had travelled down there to give birth at their church 11:02AM 19 birthing center. Then after I was born, she went back 11:02AM 20 to my father's home in Salt Lake. 11:02AM 21 MR. CALFAS: I'm going to object, Your 11:02AM 22 Honor, as non-responsive. 11:02AM 23 MR. NICHOLS: Your Honor, it was responsive 11:02AM 24 to the question that was asked. 11:02AM 25 THE COURT: Overruled. 6 11:03AM 1 Q. (MR. NICHOLS) Ms. Musser, were your parents 11:03AM 2 members of the FLDS Church? 11:03AM 3 A. Yes. 11:03AM 4 Q. And the jury has heard a lot about those 11:03AM 5 initials FLDS, but what does FLDS stand for? 11:03AM 6 A. It stands for the Fundamentalist Church of 11:03AM 7 Jesus Christ of Latter -- of the Latter Day Saints. 11:03AM 8 Q. And within the -- Salt Lake City where you grew 11:03AM 9 up, did you grow up in an FLDS community, per se? 11:03AM 10 A. Not in a community. My father, in -- in Salt 11:03AM 11 Lake, they didn't own large portions of land, so the 11:03AM 12 fathers just had a home within a neighborhood. 11:03AM 13 Q. What did your father do for a living? 11:03AM 14 A. My father was a geological engineer. 11:03AM 15 Q. And, Ms. Musser, living in Salt Lake City, can 11:03AM 16 you tell the jury where it was that you went to school? 11:03AM 17 A. For kindergarten and first grade, then, I went 11:03AM 18 to a -- just a public school. And in second grade 11:04AM 19 through my twelfth grade year, I went to the religious 11:04AM 20 school held -- the FLDS religious school there in Salt 11:04AM 21 Lake called Alta Academy. 11:04AM 22 Q. What kind of school was Alta Academy? 11:04AM 23 A. Alta Academy was organized by the church. And 11:04AM 24 to be able to be a student there, you were -- it was by 11:04AM 25 invitation only. Your family, beginning with your 7 11:04AM 1 father, as well as your -- your behavior, had to be 11:04AM 2 approved of by the church and leaders who conducted the 11:04AM 3 school, and so.... 11:04AM 4 Q. How many -- how many children were there in 11:04AM 5 attendance at the school when you were there? 11:04AM 6 A. When I first started there, there was probably 11:04AM 7 anywhere from around two hundred; and then when I 11:04AM 8 graduated, five hundred, maybe a little more than five 11:04AM 9 hundred. 11:04AM 10 Q. Just to give the jury an idea, you mentioned to 11:04AM 11 the jury what year you were born. What years, roughly, 11:05AM 12 what calendar years did you attend Alta Academy? 11:05AM 13 A. That would have been, I think, 1983, probably, 11:05AM 14 through 19 -- and I graduated in 1994. 11:05AM 15 Q. Now, Ms. Musser, can you please explain for the 11:05AM 16 jury, what kind of schooling did you get at Alta 11:05AM 17 Academy? 11:05AM 18 A. We had the basics of learning to read and to 11:05AM 19 write and do math, basic English, but primarily the 11:05AM 20 focus of the training for every subject was filtered 11:05AM 21 through religious teaching. So, you know, even learning 11:05AM 22 how to read was -- 11:05AM 23 MR. CALFAS: Excuse me, Your Honor. We're 11:05AM 24 going to object that this is irrelevant. 11:05AM 25 MR. NICHOLS: Your Honor, I'm laying the 8 11:05AM 1 foundation for the testimony that the witness will be 11:05AM 2 giving. 11:05AM 3 THE COURT: Overruled. 11:05AM 4 MR. CALFAS: Can we have a running 11:05AM 5 objection, Your Honor, as to relevance? 11:06AM 6 THE COURT: Yes. 11:06AM 7 Q. (MR. NICHOLS) Ms. Musser, let me re-ask my 11:06AM 8 question. Can you describe for the jury in your own 11:06AM 9 words what kind of -- of schooling you received at Alta 11:06AM 10 Academy? 11:06AM 11 A. We had the basic curriculum that I had 11:06AM 12 described, but all of that was taught through the 11:06AM 13 filters of the church, through their priesthood, the 11:06AM 14 religious doctrine and training, and the requirements 11:06AM 15 that we were given through the religion. So all of -- 11:06AM 16 everything in school was funneled through that. 11:06AM 17 And why we would learn that was so that we 11:06AM 18 could become more pure; so that we would be more 11:06AM 19 obedient to be able to be used by the priesthood. 11:06AM 20 Q. Now, you mentioned that you received schooling 11:06AM 21 in reading and writing and math in the way that you've 11:06AM 22 described.