Texas Custody Hearing for Sect's Children Ends Quickly

A court hearing to decide the fate of hundreds of children seized from a polygamist retreat was off to a chaotic start Thursday, as hundreds of lawyers in two locations demanded to study the first piece of evidence before it could be introduced.

State District Judge Barbara Walther called a recess 40 minutes after the hearing began in what could be the nation's largest child-custody case. She wanted to allow the 350 lawyers spread out in two buildings to read the evidence and decide whether to object en masse or make individual objections. The hearing resumed about an hour later.

The lawyers are representing the 416 children and dozens of parents from the Yearning for Zion Ranch. The ranch is owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a breakaway Mormon sect accused of forcing underage girls into polygamous marriages.