Christine Trial A Sure Thing
Monday Press Conference In Portland
By Edgar J. Steele, Attorney at law
|
Edgar J. Steele is the attorney
representing the Christine parents. This article was published on Yahoo!
Groups on April 27, 2002.
The article is reprinted/republished
here upon the special permission granted to all non-profit organizations.
|
ROSEBURG,
OREGON - In 60 hours, Brian and Ruth
Christine go on trial for allegedly kidnapping their own children back from Oregon's
Services to Children and Families (SCF) agency.
Last minute negotiations with the
Douglas County Assistant District Attorney late on Friday failed to yield any
progress on a plea bargain for either parent. "He still wants them to go
to prison for 7-1/2 years each for what amounts to nothing more than
misdemeanor custodial interference," said Edgar J. Steele, attorney for
the Christines.
Ruth Christine will be in Portland
on Monday, to do a live interview on KATU TV, ABC's Portland affiliate. KATU
will also tape an extended interview for later use and have agreed to make
copies of that tape available to all members of the media, upon request, per
Mrs. Christine's request, so as to lessen the need for her to participate in
pretrial media hoopla.
Steele noted, "We will be finished
at KATU at about 12:30 pm. At 1:00 pm on Monday, April 29, Mrs. Christine and
I will hold a press conference on the sidewalk in front of KATU's
Portland station to accommodate
members of the media who have requested an opportunity to meet with Ruth face
to face. We will take as long as necessary to satisfy those who come, up to two
hours in length, when we really must leave to prepare for trial the following
morning." The station is located at 2153 Sandy
Blvd., Portland.
Ruth Christine and her attorney
recently appeared on ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today Show, to state
their case directly to the American public. "People have got to wake up
and realize what is happening right here in America,"
said Steele. "While they worry over noncitizens'
rights in Military Tribunal trials, far worse things are done to our friends
and neighbors in these secret child custody proceedings."
"Given the piling on of charges
against the Christines, as evidenced by the recent
additional "Secret Indictment" of Ruth," said Steele, "this
case has become the poster child for why Measure 11 should be reversed in the
fall elections this year."
At a hearing last month before William Lasswell, judge of the Douglas County Circuit Court, bail
for Ruth Christine was cut from $500,000 to $50,000. The judge declined to
reduce Brian Christine's bail of over $500,000. Ruth was bailed out about two
weeks ago.
Ruth and her husband Brian have both
been held under bail amounts set well beyond their ability to raise for over
six months, while they awaited trial on a myriad of Class 1 felony charges for
taking their own children back from Oregon's child services agency last year
and fleeing the state. Brian allegedly used a revolver in forcing state
employees to hand over his three daughters.
Steele previously had been instrumental
in keeping the couple's newest baby,
Abbey Rose Christine, from being
adopted out by Oregon along with
their three oldest daughters, by appearing in a Montana
court and persuading the judge to give the baby over to Brian's mother in a
guardianship. Teri Christine lives in Indiana
and has also been named guardian by an Indiana
court of the couple's fifth daughter, Olivia.
"Oregon's
SCF (the child services agency) was apoplectic after that decision in Montana,"
said Steele, "and vowed a scorched earth campaign against Brian and Ruth
regarding their three oldest daughters, who had been returned to SCF when they
were arrested in Montana while
fleeing." That, together with the promise of a reasonable plea deal and
the assurance that the three girls would be given to Ruth's parents for
adoption, was what led the Christines to sign over
their parental rights recently.
Immediately upon Steele's reentry into
the case, Oregon cut off all
funding for public defenders, investigators and expert witnesses, without
giving a reason. Steele is serving pro bono, meaning without pay.
Contact: Edgar J. Steele, Attorney at
Law
tel:
(208) 265-4153 fax: (208) 265-5329
102 S. Fourth
Ave., Suite C
Sandpoint,
Idaho 83860
email: steele@plainlawtalk.com (best contact
method)
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