"What do I say?" Teresa Jeffs, 16, asked her mother as she left Courtroom C at the Tom Green County Courthouse. And then to a cluster of reporters: "I'm sick of everything."
Jeffs' clash with attorney Natalie Malonis is not her only worry.
She is among witnesses scheduled to appear Wednesday before a Schleicher County grand jury hearing evidence gathered as part of an investigation into alleged abuse at the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado. The probe focuses on spiritual marriages involving underage girls - including Jeffs, according to court papers filed by Natalie Malonis, the teenager's attorney.
Malonis also is set to appear as a grand jury witness, according to attorneys for Annette Jeffs, the teen's mother - and part of the reason they tried unsuccessfully to get 51st District Judge Barbara Walther to disqualify Malonis as the teen's lawyer.
Malonis is "trying to wear two hats, which she can not do," said attorney Tim Edwards, which goes to the "very heart of the problem the court is facing today."
Edwards also said Malonis has misstated facts about Jeffs, the daughter of imprisoned prophet Warren S. Jeffs, and their relationship has broken down.
But Walther refused, saying the hearing had been called only to consider a temporary restraining order issued on Friday that requires Annette Jeffs to bar contact between her daughter and Willie Jessop, a spokesman for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Malonis alleges Jessop is behind her client's push for a new attorney.
Edwards and attorney Michael Gross also asked Walther to step aside and let another judge preside over the restraining order hearing, arguing that she could not be impartial after claims that Jessop was an "enforcer" for the FLDS church led to increased security at her home.
But an acting administrative judge rejected the request as unfounded and untimely, and the hearing resumed before Walther.
The hearing was packed with attorneys who represent other FLDS children and women, several of whom said they were curious about the case. Some said their clients were experiencing panic about the grand jury proceedings and the lack of action in the ongoing investigation by Texas Child Protective Services.
"Mine are kind of in limbo because nothing is happening," said Criselda Paz, an attorney with Legal Aid of Northwest Texas who represents two mothers. "They are waiting to see what CPS is going to do with them."
Paz and other attorneys said CPS investigators have been interviewing mothers but none have been given information about what action they must undertake to resolve their cases. Some have been told CPS plans to dismiss some cases.
Malonis was prepared to present more evidence about why she wants Jeffs's mother to keep the girl away from Jessop, including apparently e-mails they exchanged. But, as urged by Walther, attorneys avoided a hearing by negotiating an agreement that extends a restraining order issued Friday for another 90 days.
Afterward, on the courtroom steps, Malonis said: "Life goes on. I'm happy. I'm just exhausted."
Salt Lake attorney Jim Bradshaw, who has acted as a spokesman for the FLDS, said after the hearing that Jessop is not a party to the FLDS child welfare case and attempts to drag him into it were unwarranted.
"The reality is he has done nothing that is in the realm of threatening witnesses or harassing witnesses or anything like that," Bradshaw said, adding that Jessop's motive in coming to Texas has simply been to help other FLDS members.
Teresa Jeffs was one of more than 440 children taken from the polygamous sect's Eldorado ranch in April. The children were released from state custody in May after the Texas Supreme Court upheld an appeals court decision that the state had not shown sufficient evidence they were in danger of being abused.
Walther granted Malonis' request that Jeffs be reunited with her mother and siblings under special restrictions, making her the only child governed by such an order.
The order says Jeffs may have no contact with her father or a man named Raymond Jessop. She also is prohibited from living at the YFZ Ranch - and today Walther also turned down the girl's request that she be allowed to spend the night at the ranch before making her grand jury appearance.
Jeff Schmidt, an attorney for Texas Child Protective Services, said that doing so would be "counterproductive for what we are trying to do" and not in Jeffs' best interest. Instead, Jeffs and her mother stayed at a hotel.
In her request for the restraining order, Malonis said she had been told by child welfare workers and law enforcement that Teresa Jeffs was spiritually married to an older man when she was 15. The teenager denies ever having sexual relations.
