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."