Published: October 30, 2009 01:54 pm      

Plea deal in sect leader Hawkins case

BAIRD (AP) — A plea agreement has led to dismissal of bigamy charges against the head of the House of Yahweh in West Texas.

Yisrayl Hawkins on Thursday pleaded no contest to four cases involving child-labor violations, related to work on church property.

The 74-year-old sect leader and former Abilene police officer had faced trial Nov. 9 in Weatherford on a change of venue from Callahan County. District Attorney Shane Deel said a trial would have been costly and there were issues on the statute of limitations.

Hawkins must pay a $2,000 fine and serve 15 months of probation in each misdemeanor child-labor case.

Deel says evidence in the bigamy investigation involves incidents dating to 2005, when bigamy was a misdemeanor with only a two-year limitations period.

The Legislature in 2005 made bigamy a felony.