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Posted: 2:27 PM- San Angelo, Tex. - Officials here are preparing for a massive court hearing tomorrow expected to determine the fate of more than 400 polygamous children.
The boys and girls were put in temporary state custody following a raid earlier this month at the FLDS sect's ranch.
Clerks say the hearing before Tom Green County District Judge Barbara Walther will begin at 10 a.m. tomorrow in two venues: Walther's courtroom and the city hall auditorium one block away.
Hundreds in the auditorium will be able to watch the proceedings via a closed-circuit television and will possibly be able to participate in the hearing. Attorneys have flocked here from all over the state to represent FLDS families involved in the hearing - many of them staying in private homes as lodging is scarce.
The April 3 raid at the YFZ Ranch, owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was prompted by calls to a local family violence shelter from a 16-year-old girl who claimed she had been beaten by her spiritual husband.
Residents at the YZF ranch today have been allowing some members of the media in to speak with FLDS followers about the raid and the case so far.
Authorities say the girl has yet to be identified among the 416 children who were removed from the compound.