Christines guilty of robbery, acquitted of kidnapping (Christine Trial Ends)

oregonlive ^ | 5/10/02 | LANDON HALL

[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."

[Cultural Jihad]

Hence the reason they're a little loose, eh?

[f.Christian]

The electric drill black and decker crowd made in china is working ot for 'father's' day...super glue too!

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

""There was a young man standing there with a gun pointed at me. I could see the shells. I saw the gun was loaded with a standard load, similar to a wad-cutter," he said. "Just lead on the end of the bullet, not copper-jacketed." "It kind of grabbed my attention," he said. Nelson said his training allowed him to act calmly, but he soon felt the flood of emotions -- disbelief, anger, frustration and guilt. "I had three children who were my responsibility, who I was no longer able to care for," he said. "

Thank you for posting this. No one should have to go through this terror. I feel so horrible for that man to have those children who were his responsibility to have them taken from him, especially at the end of a gun. The man and children could have been killed. Those children as so blessed to be in loving homes today.

[f.Christian]

Yeah...that's like the deer in the headlights---whack!

[f.Christian]

Hillary's lovely legs tiptoes through the village!

[amused]

Maybe so, but what about the groups that are adamant about the child protection system being corrupt? Oregon is the place and that's where they're at. They are all over the Christine case, not a peep on Rivera. Riveras are not accused of mistreatment of the children. They "kidnapped" their children, too. Although not at gunpoint and in a more defendable manner. Their case might be easier to achieve the desired results.

The above seems to be a tailor made case to attack an over-reaching CPS. While I think race is not that big a factor, the Christines' fundementalism certainly had an effect.

This also reminds me of the Jahi vs. Danielle VD case. There have been calls of racism there but I think it is more "been there, done that" by the media. Also with the Christines' & Danielle VD, you had the hook(fundie christian, vegan, bizzarre road trip, gun pulled for Brian & Ruth; swinging parents, girl stolen right out of her bed, kiddie porn neighbor for VD's)

[F.J. Mitchell]

"The children were placed with members of the family."

So we are told, but they were taken by force from the members of their immediate family-Mom and Dad, who as a rule care more about the well being of their children than anyone or any thing else on earth, and shipped out of this country to alleged family members about whom we know nothing at all, and out of the jurisdiction of either state or American law, where they could actually be more abused and exploited more than they were in the wildest delusions and lies of this one more time mockery of justice by the hippy haven of Oregon.

THeir parents are not free to go to their rescue-they are effectively out of the picture for ever, as well as being exiled from one another. Divide and conquor is working well for the socialists from hell, who have found a way to torment the innocent here on earth.

Pray for the Christine's and their children, and the beguiled fools here-decieved by the enemies of everything we stand for.

[RGSpincich]

So we are told,

shipped out of this country to alleged family members about whom we know nothing at all

Your continued ignorance of the well known facts in this case deflates any argument you may have. Pretending that Ruth's parents might not really have the kids is plain nuts. Bethany testified in court that she lives with her grandparents and her grandparents were present for all to see. The Christines w/attorney were present also and they all seem to think the kids live with the grandparents, who were well screened and agreed to by the Christines.

Since you can't understand the most simple facts, nobody expects you to understand the more complicated issues here.

[F.J. Mitchell]

"Nobody expects you to understand the complicated issues here."

Good, that takes the pressure off. I'll just relax and opine till hell freezes over and leave the alleged facts to geniuses such as yourself.