Posted on 05/10/2002 9:38:38 PM PDT by RGSpincich
Christines guilty of robbery, acquitted of kidnapping
By LANDON HALL
The Associated Press
5/10/02 10:54 PM
ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) -- An Oregon couple accused of taking their children from state workers at gunpoint were found guilty Friday of robbery, custodial interference and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
The Douglas County jury found Brian and Ruth Christine innocent of kidnapping.
The Christines, both 29, face minimum prison sentences of 7½ years on the robbery charges. Brian Christine will face an additional five years for pointing a gun at child welfare workers last August to take his three daughters -- Bethany, then 5; Lydia, 3; and Miriam, 2.
Circuit Court Judge William Lasswell set sentencing for May 28.
The Christines showed no emotion as the verdict was read. However, Ruth Christine started sobbing and breathing heavily when discussing the sentence with defense attorney Edgar Steele.
Brian Christine tried to comfort his wife, who was sitting next to him, but was stopped by a deputy. Ruth Christine then turned to her mother-in-law, Teri Christine, and other supporters and said: "I love you guys."
Outside the courtroom, Steele said he was prepared for his clients to be convicted on the lesser charges, but he was "stunned" that the jury found them guilty of robbery.
"Brian and Ruth Christine are good people," Steele said. "They deserved better than this."
The case was closely watched nationally by child-safety advocates, as well as anti-government activists wary of bureaucratic meddling among families.
Brian Christine took his daughters after forcing two case workers out of a state van at gunpoint on Aug. 1, 2001, following a supervised visit in Grants Pass.
Prosecutor Rick Wesenberg said the Christines left early from the supervised visit so they could scope out the van that would take the girls back to their foster home in Bandon. The Christines guessed that the two case workers in the van would stop at an Interstate 5 rest area about an hour north of Grants Pass.
The prosecutor said Brian Christine waited until everyone was back in the van before he approached it, pointing a .357-caliber handgun at case worker Terrence Nelson on the driver's side. He then ordered the other worker, Jennifer Barrett, to step away from the vehicle. Christine drove off, ditched the van about two miles away and met up with his wife and a friend before they fled to Montana.
The Christines were apprehended, and the girls taken back into custody, a few days later after Brian was stopped for speeding.
Steele had sought to deflect attention from the crimes by painting his clients as a deeply religious couple whose basic rights as parents were violated when the state Department of Human Services took custody of the children on July 30, 2000.
State workers who handled the case said the girls were severely underweight, dehydrated and malnourished, requiring them to be hospitalized for four days. Miriam was only 15 pounds and was so emaciated that a neighbor assumed she was an infant.
The defense argued that the children were naturally slight of build, like their parents.
Wesenberg said the Christines repeatedly refused several conditions set by the state Services to Children and Families: They missed appointments, were reluctant to undergo psychological examinations and declined to take anger-management courses.
"That's it. That's what they needed to do," Wesenberg said during closing arguments Friday. "Instead, they chose confrontation at every turn."
The emergency-room doctor who treated the girls at Three Rivers Community Hospital in Grants Pass was the last witness to testify. Dr. James Giesen said he had never seen children so emaciated. Two-year-old Miriam was so small she looked like a famine victim from "Biafra or Ethiopia," Giesen said.
He said the girls showed obvious signs of abuse and neglect. Ruth Christine told the doctor that her husband had struck Lydia, causing her to fall down some stairs. Giesen said X-rays and a CAT scan revealed a fracture at the base of her skull. Also, she had a cut on the right side of her forehead that had not healed, and the wound was so badly infected that it gave off a bacterial smell of feces.
"The odor almost overwhelmed the room," Giesen said. "A couple of us stepped out."
In any case, Brian is going away for at least 7.5 yrs. plus 5 if the judge follows the guidelines. He may have some discretion. The mistreatment trial in Josephine County is in July.
Could this mean that the state was not lying? Or perhaps Steele did not offer a competent defense? Will be interesting to see how the Brian and Ruth supporters will spin this. It never ceases to amaze me how they can ignore so much to maintain their dark twisted view of the world....
Ah, the old "watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat" defense. Obviously he didn't draw the OJ jury for this case.
The evidence that the state supposedly didn't have may have tripped him up.
The guy and gal who were forced out of the van at gunpoint and forced to leave their belongings behind may feel differently. Their belongings and the van were then taken from their possesion. The fact that they recovered the items does not negate the fact that they were stolen from them to begin with. Alot of people get their stolen items back but the robbers still get convicted.
Brian should have handed them their stuff before he took off. Did Brian tell them where and when to retrieve the items? If you remove items that don't belong to you at gunpoint, without permission, that's stealing. Ask any kid.
Steele knows this. He's playing games again. He's about to start in on the jury if he hasn't already. I think he has, by making the statement that the Christines "deserved better".
Maybe the jury didn't share your agenda.
The state didn't try to fool anybody. They kept their mouth shut and conducted a prosecution. Steele should have stayed on the ground and developed a coherent defense. The evidence of the robbery etc. was satisfactory for the jury to convict. The mistreatment evidence motivated them.
Perhaps he could have argued that Brian was weak-minded and easily came under the influence of crackpots. Steele included.
By LANDON HALL
The Associated Press
5/11/02 3:48 AM
ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) -- It might have been a split verdict. But for Brian and Ruth Christine, the jury's decision spelled total defeat.
The couple, who sought to reunite their family with the help of a gun, will remain apart after a Douglas County jury convicted them Friday of robbery, custodial interference and unlawful use of a state vehicle when they took their three daughters from state social workers and fled to Montana.
The Christines were acquitted of felony kidnapping charges.
Under Measure 11 guidelines, the Christines, both 29, face minimum prison sentences of 7½ years on the robbery charges. Brian Christine will face an additional five years for using a firearm during the crime.
Outside the courtroom, defense attorney Edgar Steele said he was prepared for convictions on the lesser charges but was "stunned" that the jury found his clients guilty of robbery.
"Brian and Ruth Christine are good people," Steele said. "They deserved better than this."
The Christines showed no emotion as the verdict was read. Ruth Christine turned to her mother-in-law, Teri Christine, who was sitting among supporters, and whispered, "I love you guys."
Later, as the defendants discussed possible sentencing dates with their lawyer, Ruth Christine started sobbing and breathing heavily. Brian Christine, sitting next to his wife, tried to comfort her, but a sheriff's deputy separated them.
Sentencing was scheduled for May 28 before Circuit Judge William Lasswell. Prosecutor Rick Wesenberg said he had not decided whether to ask for the sentences to be served concurrently or consecutively. "I'm not being cagey. I don't know," he said. "I haven't digested this all myself."
The robbery charges stemmed from the theft of the van and the case workers' personal effects inside. The jury agreed with the defense that kidnapping charges did not apply, since the workers were told to move away from the car -- not taken anywhere.
The state assumed custody of the children in 2000, believing the girls -- Bethany, now 6; Lydia, 3; and Miriam, 2 -- had been abused and denied food.
During the six-day trial, the defense portrayed the state Services to Children and Families as an unsympathetic agency that should not have taken the girls in the first place.
Steele also criticized the prosecution's decision to put Bethany on the witness stand. She said her father, whom she called "Baba," had pointed a gun at "the people," and that her mother had joined them wearing a blond wig.
"Just imagine her waking up one morning and thinking, `My mommy and daddy have been in prison all these years, and my goodness, I'm the one that put them there,"' Steele said.
The prosecutor said the Christines had numerous opportunities to show they deserved to get them back, but they refused to comply with case workers' conditions by missing appointments and declining to attend anger-management counseling.
Just as the couple told friends they were going to cooperate, Wesenberg said, they hatched a "clever" scheme to swipe them.
The Christines left early from a supervised visit in Grants Pass so they could scope out the van that would take the girls to their foster home in Bandon. The couple guessed that the two case workers in the van would stop at a rest area about an hour north of Grants Pass.
The prosecutor said Brian Christine waited until everyone was back in the van before he approached it and pointed a .357-caliber handgun at case worker Terry Nelson on the driver's side. He then ordered the other worker, Jennifer Barrett, to step away from the vehicle. Christine drove off, ditched the van about two miles away and met up with his wife and a friend before they fled to Montana.
The Christines were apprehended three days later, after Brian was stopped for speeding. The girls were taken back into custody and now live with Ruth Christine's parents in her native England.
The couple have two other daughters who were born after the Christines' custody troubles began: Olivia, 17 months, and Abby Rose, 7 months. They live with Teri Christine in Indiana.
"I'm so sorry that my family set foot in the state of Oregon," she said after the verdict.
The girls were first taken into state custody after an anonymous tip led police to the converted bus where the family was living.
The children appeared severely malnourished and underweight. Two-year-old Miriam was so small she looked like a famine victim from "Biafra or Ethiopia," said Dr. James Giesen, who treated the girls in the emergency room of the Three Rivers Community Hospital in Grants Pass.
Giesen, the last witness to testify Friday, said Lydia had a fractured skull and a cut on the right side of her forehead that had not healed. The wound was so badly infected that it gave off a bacterial smell of feces.
"The odor almost overwhelmed the room," Giesen said. "A couple of us stepped out."
A little nest falls out of the tree---
We have another Holy Weekend...a family---5 children and two parents on a cross!
And a pack of jackal-vultures too!
When God visits you...did you think He would come in a Mercedes---kiss your feet!
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