3 accused of child abuse at N.M. compound await release

TAOS, N.M. — Three people accused of child abuse at a ramshackle desert compound were awaiting release Wednesday in New Mexico, where security was boosted at a courthouse amid threats against the judge who cleared the way for the defendants to leave jail.

The ruling by District Judge Sarah Backus sparked a political uproar and backlash on social media. Officials evacuated several administrative court offices Tuesday in Taos County as a precaution.

The offices reopened Wednesday while the threats were being investigated.

The decision to release three of the five extended family members being held in the case came despite assertions by prosecutors that the group was training children to use firearms for an anti-government mission and should remain in jail pending trial.

In her written ruling, Backus said she was bound by an “extremely high standard of proof ” and that prosecutors failed to present clear and convincing evidence regarding dangers the defendants might pose to the community.

“From this meager evidence the court is requested by the state to surmise that these people are dangerous terrorists with a plot against the country or institutions. The court may not surmise, guess or assume,” she wrote.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys referenced the group’s Muslim faith during the hearing, but Backus wrote in her order that the court does not take into consideration faith when determining dangerousness.

In all, 11 children were taken into custody at the squalid dwelling near the Colorado border during an Aug. 3 raid by authorities who returned three days later and recovered the body of a boy.

Medical examiners have yet to determine whether the body found at the site outside Amalia was that of Abdul-ghani — the disabled missing son of compound resident Siraj Ibn Wahhaj. Other relatives have told authorities that the remains are those of Abdul-ghani.

Wahhaj will remain in jail pending a warrant for his arrest issued in Georgia involving accusations that he abducted his son from the boy’s mother in December and fled to New Mexico.

Another defendant, Jany Leveille, was transferred to the custody of federal immigration authorities, Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe announced. The 35-year-old native of Haiti is the mother of six children taken into state custody during the compound raid.

Defendants Lucas Morton, Subhannah Wahhaj and Hujrah Wahhaj were awaiting release.

Amid the threats, authorities had yet to find adequate nearby living arrangements for the three defendants in the town with only a handful of Muslim households.