Five alleged Muslim extremists accused among other things of training children to carry out school shootings at the dilapidated New Mexico compound in which they all lived had several child abuse charges against them dropped because of a legal technicality.
Two different judges ordered the child abuse charges to be dropped because prosecutors failed to hold an evidentiary hearing to establish probable cause within 10 days, the time limit set by New Mexico law, Fox News reported.
According to KOB4, Eighth Judicial District Attorney Donald Gallegos plans to refile the charges against all five.
Three of those individuals—Lucas Morten, his wife Subhannah Wahhaj, and her sister Hujrah Wahhaj—were released from custody after the original charges were dropped by a judge, reported Reuters.
The other two—Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and his wife Jany Leveille—are still in jail awaiting trial over the death of three year old boy Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj whose remains were discovered at the compound. He was the son of Siraj Wahhaj.
Wahhaj is the son of a New York imam linked to the 1993 World Trade Center terror attack but who denies any involvement.
When deputies from Taos County Sheriff's Office first entered the compound in early August, after months of suspicion about what was going on inside, they discovered 11 children aged between 1 and 15 living in filth and squalor.
Deputies were alerted to problems when they received a note from inside the compound which said: "We are starving and need food and water."
They also discovered a "heavily armed" Wahhaj, who had an AR15 rifle, five loaded 30 round magazines, four loaded pistols, and other ammo at the compound, which did not have any plumbing or electricity.
Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said in a statement after the search: "The only food we saw were a few potatoes and a box of rice in the filthy trailer.
"But what was most surprising, and heartbreaking was when the team located a total of five adults and 11 children that looked like third world country refugees not only with no food or fresh water, but with no shoes, personal hygiene and basically dirty rags for clothing.
"We all gave the kids our water and what snacks we had—it was the saddest living conditions and poverty I have seen."
Hogrefe also said that before deputies entered the compound, they were warned that "the occupants were most likely heavily armed and considered extremist of the Muslim belief."
Prosecutors alleged in court documents that Wahhaj was training children to use the weapons with the intention of them carrying out school shootings, though his defense attorney questioned the veracity of such claims, reported Associated Press.
The children were all taken into protective custody.
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