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January 27th, 2010
03:51 PM ET
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Trapped violinist found deliverance through prayers, concertos

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/01/27/story_romel_joseph_cnn.jpg caption="Blind violinist Romel Joseph recovers in a Miami, Florida, hospital from injuries he received in the quake." width=300 height=169]

Chuck Johnston
CNN National Desk

Blind violinist Romel Joseph laid in what he called his "grave" for 18 hours.

The concrete support beams of his music school in Haiti pinned his legs and feet. Buried in the rubble of the five-story building, Romel realized he was trapped and would not be able to get out on his own.

He was overwhelmed by the hot air. He began to have a conversation with God.

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Filed under: Chuck Johnston • Haiti
November 25th, 2008
12:07 PM ET
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Polygamist leaders indicted – and jailed

Chuck Johnston
CNN National Desk

The patriarch of the world's biggest polygamist sect's compound in Eldorado, Texas turned himself in after being indicted on felony charges. Fredrick Merril Jessop, 72, of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), is charged with one count of conducting an unlawful marriage ceremony involving a minor, which is a third-degree felony.

Jessop has been running the compound, called the Yearning for Zion Ranch, home to hundreds of church members. He was husband of Carolyn Jessop, who wrote in her best-selling book, "Escape" about their marriage and life in the FLDS, and her frightening escape from Merril Jessop and the compound with her children.

Carolyn Jessop and others have said girls as young 11 have been forced into polygamists marriages with older men, boys have been ejected from the sect on trumped up infractions, and children have been beaten.

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Filed under: Chuck Johnston • Crime & Punishment • Polygamy

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