May 2, 2002
Defense takes 'body blows' in prelim hearing
On the stand: Ruth Christine testifies about the cut
on her daughter Lydia's head during pre-trial motions
in Douglas County Circuit Court Wednesday in Roseburg.
By CHRIS POLLOCK
The trial of alleged kidnappers Brian and Ruth Christine still hadn't formally begun, but their lawyer said after Wednesday's preliminary hearings that their case had received "body blows."
"This was a tough day," said defense attorney Edgar J. Steele. "We took some real damage."
The bulk of Wednesday's pre-trial testimony centered around a motion by Steele to suppress all evidence gathered by Grants Pass police during a search of the bus where the Christines and their children lived in July 2000. After the search, Oregon Department of Human Services workers took the Christines' children into protective custody.
Brian and Ruth Christine, both 29, are on trial in Douglas County Circuit Court for robbery, kidnapping, and custodial interference over an incident in August 2001 at an Interstate 5 rest area near Myrtle Creek. Brian Christine is accused of taking three of his daughters, then aged 3, 4, and 6, at gunpoint from two social workers. He and his wife then allegedly fled with their children to Montana, where they were caught several days later.
Both Brian and Ruth Christine took the stand Wednesday afternoon to counter testimony from Grants Pass Police Detective Dan Evans that their children seemed malnourished when he first saw them. Evans said his department received an anonymous tip that children who were part of a family that lived in a bus parked near a local library were being mistreated. Evans then went to the location and met with Ruth Christine. She was holding the couple's youngest daughter, Miriam, at the time, he recalled.
"I was immediately struck by how skinny the arms and legs were of the child she was carrying," Evans said. "You could see the folds of skin on her arms. Her head appeared large in proportion to her body. She seemed listless."
Evans also said another daughter, Lydia Christine, had a cut on her forehead that appeared to have festered when he examined it later at a hospital.
"It was pointed out to me that it smelled funny," Evans said. "I smelled it. It smelled like rotten flesh."
Later, when Brian Christine took the stand, he admitted "swatting" Lydia on the back of the head, causing her to fall and hit her forehead on a step in the bus. Both Brian and Ruth Christine testified that Brian had never hit any of their children before.
"Normally she would get a light spanking," Brian Christine said. "I was pretty frustrated with Lydia. I wasn't angry."
Brian Christine said he disciplined Lydia for peeing in the bus in an act of defiance.
Brian Christine also said he and his wife had felt intimidated into allowing Evans into their bus.
"The conversation I had with him led up to one thing," he said. "And that was that they weren't going away."
The Christines claimed that a Grants Pass police officer, either Evans or someone else, had threatened to arrest both of them and drag their children out of their bus "kicking and screaming." When asked about the Christines' allegations, Evans vehemently denied he ever made such statements.
"That would be a bald-faced lie," he said.
Prosecuting attorney Rick Wesenberg had no comment after court adjourned for the day. Steele, after admitting Evans' testimony was damaging, said he had no plans to have the Christines testify again.
"That's the only time you will ever see my clients on the stand in this trial," he said.
Jury selection for the trial was expected to begin this afternoon in front of Judge William Lasswell. The judge was also expected to rule this morning on whether the Christines were coerced into letting Evans on the bus to question the children.
End Article
The jury is now selected and the motion denied.