BARBARIKIANS AT THE GATE
When Dreams Become ((((( NIGHTMARES )))))

Mother Gives Birth Handcuffed and Shackled to  Hospital Bed!  Nurses Weep!  Baby Confiscated!

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February 25, 2002

Ever have a dream where life was just perfect?  That everything you did and said was the epitome of grace and everybody was kind and supportive?  Ever have a dream just like that, but which suddenly took a nasty turn to reveal its true nature and show it for the nightmare that it really was?  That's about when you wake up in a cold sweat, grateful to be given back your mundane existence, right?

Dream along with me for a moment. Imagine that you are in your late twenties.

Imagine that you and your wife (or husband) have three beautiful little girls - blond, blue eyed and button cute.

Imagine that your wife is (or you are) pregnant again, due to deliver in a month.

Now, imagine that you are traveling around the country with your family in your motor home, hoping to see as much as possible before the girls reach school age. Imagine stopping for a time in a picture-book perfect little town.

It's summertime. It's warm. Birds are singing. There's a light breeze soughing through the tree branches, carrying the smell of lilacs.

Imagine that, while your family has lunch in the motor home, parked for the morning in the public library parking lot, you are inside using the public-access internet computer. You have a modest business, buying and selling things on eBay, mostly computer-related, but it's enough to supply money for gas and food while your family takes this extended vacation.

Your littlest girl is just getting over a bout with the flu. But she's coming around now - kids always do.

Life is good, huh? Now your dream takes an unexpected turn.

You look up and see your mate coming toward you, shepherding the girls like a mother hen...followed by several police officers.

After a heated discussion, you take your family and retreat to your motor home. The police demand entry. They speak with your youngest girl in private. Before nightfall, you are in jail on unfounded and false charges of child neglect, the result of a stranger's anonymous call to the authorities earlier that day. Your three girls have been taken by the state. You don't yet know that you will see them only twice during the coming year. Your wife is left alone, pregnant and with no money, sitting in the motor home as the sun goes down.

Released on bail a few days later, you and your wife demand to see your children. No, you are told. You fight the system. You haven't done anything wrong.

Deeply religious, you and your wife pray for guidance and have faith that God will guide you to the reunification of your family.

Then the authorities say they will take the girls away from you permanently because you haven't played ball. Because you didn't go for the psychological evaluations or the counseling they required. Because you didn't bow and scrape for the authorities or the judge. You believe them because they tried so hard to take your newborn baby, too, who you gave to your mother halfway across the country for safekeeping, granting her permanent guardianship. Though a local judge issues an order to seize that baby, a judge in that distant state says no.

Finally, you agree to do what the state requires, but still they insist that it is too late and your little girls all will be adopted out.

Desperate, crazy with worry and pushed into a corner, you persuade the state to allow you to visit with the girls for only the second time since they were taken from you. At the designated spot, you verify that they are okay. You cry and you laugh together for a time. Then, you tearfully part company.

You leave your wife and follow them. Allegedly at gunpoint, you commandeer the state car they transported the kids in and drive a short distance to where you have stashed a car. Together with your wife, you flee the state with your children, leaving behind the motor home and all your possessions. It doesn't matter. You are a family again. All that matters is that your children are safe. By the way, your wife is seven months pregnant again.

They catch you, of course, two states away.

The girls are immediately taken back to the foster home they had been placed in. You and your wife are held in two different jails, several hundred miles apart.

Ever have a dream take a nasty turn like that?  That's about when you wake up in a cold sweat, thankful for the return to your humdrum reality.

Imagine this, though: imagine that all of this is true and, not only do you never wake up from it, but it actually gets worse. Meet Brian and Ruth Christine. They have been living this nightmare-come-to-life for the past year.

family.jpg

Brian, Ruth and the three oldest girls in happier times.

Brian and Ruth refused extradition from the Montana jail cells in which they sat, hoping to delay the inevitable until after Ruth gave birth to their fifth child. Oregon, which took their three oldest girls and tried mightily to take their fourth, boldly stated that it would take their fifth as a newborn baby, directly from the delivery room and place it for adoption in Oregon, too. Brian and Ruth hoped to have a Montana judge intercede, just as an Indiana judge had for baby Olivia.

This is the point at which I was asked to help Ruth and Brian. Although I am allowed to practice law in Oregon, I had to work through other lawyers in Montana. Though I have been working pro bono, all other lawyers have demanded payment, which some on this list have been kind enough to provide, though it has been close so far.

Finally, in frustration with Montana lawyers that did nothing and demanded to be paid anyway, I employed a once-in-a-legal-career device called pro hac vice admission to enter the Montana court myself and forced a guardianship hearing just as Montana was about to railroad a custody hearing into a transfer of the just-born baby Abbey Rose to the Oregon authorities.

We were assigned to a judge that listened, thankfully. He agreed with us that baby Abbey Rose should not be handed over to Oregon, as the Montana child protection services demanded. Instead, he directed that baby Abbey Rose be given to Brian's mother that very day, under a temporary guardianship, then he transferred jurisdiction to an Indiana court for a permanent guardianship hearing.

Brian's mother and Abbey Rose left the next day. Little Abbey Rose saw her older sister, Olivia, that night for the first time. She has never seen her three oldest sisters. Neither has Olivia, for that matter.

Brian and Ruth were swiftly taken back to Oregon, where they have been sitting in jail cells in Roseburg ever since, awaiting trial on a raft of criminal charges. If convicted of even half of them, this young couple will spend the rest of their lives in prison. Foremost among them: kidnapping, of course...kidnapping their own children.

threelittlegirls.jpg

The three oldest Christine Girls:  Bethany, Miriam and Lidia.

Their trial starts on March 19th (update: April 30th in Roseburg, Oregon), less than one month from now. Two weeks ago, they finally signed away their parental rights to their three oldest girls, hoping to spare the girls any further trauma in what was a doomed struggle to retain custody. Only because they were assured that Ruth's parents, residents of Great Britain, would be strongly considered for adoption, were they willing to sign off. That prevented the trial on termination of parental rights which was scheduled for last week.

Such a parental rights termination "trial" is held before a judge, only, in a closed hearing and the presentation of witnesses and evidence is limited to what the state produces. Parents have no rights to independent examinations in these proceedings, thereby ensuring the outcome in the state's favor. This is truly a guilty until proven innocent railroad job, all but impossible to derail.

The Douglas County District Attorney had steadfastly refused to discuss any sort of plea arrangement, saying to call him once Ruth & Brian gave up rights to the three girls, suggesting a reasonable plea offer would be made once they did such. Today, that offer was communicated to us. Now that they have spent six months in jail already and now that they have given up their three oldest girls to Oregon authorities and their two babies to Brian's mother, here is what Oregon thinks they should still suffer: plead guilty to a "Measure 11" felony (mandatory minimum sentencing) and serve 7-1/2 years each in prison. No kidding.

We have a technical term in the law business for this sort of situation: it's a "no-brainer." Call your first witness, Mr. DA, because we'll take our chances with a jury.

Once we got the baby safely out of Montana, I stepped into the background so as to force the appointment of public defenders in Oregon for Ruth and Brian.  The geographic distance made my day-to-day handling of the case impractical.  Today, with it apparent that we will be going to trial, I have reassumed direct handling of their case. 

Now, we must make up lost ground because we are adamant about suffering no further delay.  We feel as though the DA snookered us this last time, by causing us to delay the trial once already, yet produce nothing reasonable by way of a plea deal.  What would a reasonable deal have looked like?  Plead to misdemeanor custodial interference and time served.  Anything beyond that gets Ruth deported (she is a British citizen).  She would not be allowed back to visit her two babies or Brian and you can bet that Brian would never be allowed into England.

All because some busybody called the authorities in Grants Pass, Oregon, eighteen months ago, to say that there was a little girl in a motor home in the library parking lot who looked a little peaked.  Because of that, a family is torn asunder and lives are destroyed.  Your tax dollars at work. 

Ruth and Brian now face life in prison for rescuing their children.  Meanwhile, rapists get probation and murderers are out in two-to-four.  Oh, did I forget to mention that Ruth and Brian are somewhat politically incorrect?  Silly me.  It makes such a difference these days, doesn't it?

"I didn't say it would be easy.  I just said it would be the truth."
            - Morpheus

ã Edgar J. Steele, 2002

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OUTRAGEOUS CRUELTY! Innocent Mom Gives Birth While Shackled and Handcuffed: Nurses Weep While Newborn Confiscated!

DON'T TAKE OUR KIDS!

The Christine Family Story

RUTH CHRISTINE'S AFFIDAVIT:

Date: July 31, 2000

It was Monday the 31st of July around 12:00 noonday. I was in the privacy of our Motorhome giving food and drink to My Three Daughters when suddenly I heard a car and then someone calling in through an open window, which startled me. I wondered who it was and why they were calling in through the window rather than knocking on the door. I was offended at this rudeness and invasion of our privacy so I went to the door of our Home to see what these people wanted. I was faced with two Officers armed and in blue uniform, one male and one female who informed me there had been an anonymous phone call from a man who had reported a child who looked dehydrated. I wondered what man they were talking about as I had not seen or met one. I also couldnt understand what child they were referring to as I have Three Daughters and they were inside the Motorhome eating with me.

I informed the Officers that My Daughters were eating and drinking at that very moment as they must have witnessed while peering through the window. I believed this would be adequate proof that we were not the people they were looking for and moreover that Our Daughters were not dehydrated. However, the Officers were not satisfied, they said they wanted to see our children even though they had already seen them through the open window. They continued to insist in seeing My Daughters. Then they told me they wanted to talk to our children. I asked the female Officer what my rights were and she refused to answer. I refused to allow these armed Police Officers to come into Our Home and interrogate Our Daughters.

I returned to taking care of My Daughters needs believing that the Officers would now leave. The Officers remained outside and soon an entire squad of Law Enforcement vehicles surrounded Our Home. More armed and uniformed Officers appeared at the scene as well as other un-uniformed workers. I became alarmed. I was pregnant and alone with My Three Small Daughters who were becoming disturbed and frightened. I was unable to leave or to contact for any help or counsel.

The Officers had refused to tell me my rights, the only thing that I could think of was to take My Daughters into the Library to find my husband and ask him what to do. He was inside doing business on an internet computer. I left for the library expecting the Officers to remain outside our Home, however several Officers followed us into the Library. This was extremely embarrassing and humiliating especially in front of Our Daughters. I couldnt understand why they were following us. We were being treated like criminals. We had an armed Police escort into a public building .

I found Brian and told him, these Police Officers want to talk to the girls and I know they have no right. I was not allowed to talk to Brian about the situation because the Officers came over, cut me off and started to harass Brian.

Brian spoke with them briefly and then said we were going back to Our Home. Again we were escorted as if under arrest. We returned to our home which was completely surrounded and blocked in by Police Officers and Patrol Cars and what we later learned were SCF workers and vehicles. We entered our Home but left the door open so as not to be interpreted as a threat. Brian began to put his belongings away in order to leave. We did not know what to do, we were very frightened.

Plain clothes but armed Detective Dan Evans began questioning Brian through the open door. He said he wanted SCF to talk to Our Children alone. Brian said he would only talk to the Detective because he had made no agreement with SCF and signed no contract placing us under SCF jurisdiction. Brian then stated that we are Indiana residents, not residents of Oregon and that we were travelling. The Detective persisted in his questioning. Brian asked what his rights were but received no answer. The Detective said that he was running out of time for doing things the peaceful way. A large man in plain clothes with his left arm in a cast spoke to Brian through the open window saying, If it were me doing the investigation, I would already have thrown Brian in jail and then I would take the kids.

Brian asked the Detective what would happen if we did not cooperate with them. The Detective replied that he would have to arrest Brian and drag the kids out kicking and screaming. Brian became visibly disturbed at the mention of this being done to Our Daughters and asked me what we should do. I was really afraid of what might happen to us if we did not cooperate, so when Brian then turned to me asking what we should do, the Detectives threat forced me to reply I guess we have to let them in. I was afraid, and I believed the Detective would do what he said. I was unaware that his threat was a lie and that the Detective could not have legally acted upon it.

The Detective ordered us to leave Our Home. I left, but Brian refused to leave Our Daughters alone with the strange man with a gun so he stayed where he was. A while later, the Detective came out of Our Home and I went back in. He said he needed to talk to Brian privately. Brian went with him around the corner. I did not understand what was going on. I stayed with Our Daughters who were as confused as I was.

During this time I went to shut the door so that I could use the toilet which was situated in plain view of all outside. The Officer refused to allow me to go to the toilet. After the Detective was finished interrogating Brian, he came over to me and said that Brian had incriminated himself. I didnt know what this meant.

Brian and I went back into Our Home with Our Daughters. We were all very traumatized. SCF worker Sharon Jefferies stated that they were going to take Our Daughters away. I said, What? Youre not taking them anywhere! She then lied to me saying, Oh we mean were just taking them to the Hospital. I said, My Daughters arent going anywhere without me or Brian!

Having been told that Our Daughters had to be taken to the Hospital, I was then asked if we both wanted to travel with the girls. I was not informed why My Daughters needed to go to the Hospital, nor was I asked if I would take them to a Hospital. It was made clear that SCF was going to take My Daughters to the Hospital with or without us.

I was then surprised to learn that the Detective was going to take Brian to the Police Station to get fingerprints and information. I became very scared and confused about what was happening and began to cry. I had been told that both Brian and I were to go to the Hospital with Our Daughters. I now realized that I had been deceived. Now I was going to go the Hospital with Our Daughters and Brian was being taken away. I wondered what kind of insanity this was?

I could tell Brian was very upset and ill. He was too grieved to even to respond when I said I love you. as I got into the minivan with Our Daughters and went to the hospital.

I was completely devastated by what was happening. Our Daughters were also showing serious signs of trauma and stress. Bethany vomited a little on the drive to the Hospital and all of Our Daughters appeared physically weak.

At the Hospital no one offered My Daughters anything to eat but rather they were tested for everything imaginable. I would later learn they were even given abusive and invasive sexual exams without my knowledge or consent and for no reason and with no probable cause. Pornographic photographs were also being taken by Sharon Jefferies unbeknownst to me while I waited in the Hospital. I did not understand what was happening. I thought that My Daughters had been brought to the Hospital to receive help for dehydration, not to have massive blood draws, a battery of tests run on them, to be sexually abused or to have pornographic photos taken of them. All these strange people were picking up My Daughters and doing things to them over which I had no control and had not given consent to do. I was treated as if I was no longer their Mother, but an evil convicted criminal as I watched My Daughters being abused by State workers.

After many hours of testing, My Daughters were finally given some food. This was approximately six hours after Officers originally made contact. I called the Police Station and was told that they were keeping Brian overnight. They would not tell me how long he might be incarcerated. I couldnt believe this was happening. I wondered why they would want to keep him in jail. I didnt understand why he was still there when we had been told they only wanted to take fingerprints and photos. I began to think they might not let him out at all. I did not know what to do.

SCF worker Sharon Jefferies casually informed me that they were keeping My Daughters and that they were to be placed into foster care for the next two months and also that I had to leave the hospital premises and not come back.

I could not believe it, I had tried to cooperate with them, I had answered their questions and now they were taking my Precious Daughters away from me. No one ever offered us any remedy for the situation. I was not even told why I had to leave or what it was that I had done wrong or what crime I had committed. I was just to accept that My Daughters were now someone elses property without any charge being brought against me or any witness to any crime! No one ever even asked me for permission to keep my daughters or if I objected.

I said there was no way I was going to leave them. She said that if I wanted to see them before I left, I would have to calm down. I was instructed by Sharon to lie to Our Daughters, telling them I have important work to do. I said there is no way they will believe that, I am always with them every day, no one even baby-sits for them.

I had no choice but to leave, so I went into the room and hugged Miriam and Lydia. Then to Bethany, the eldest, I said, I love you, take care of your sisters. Gods going to take care of you. I was overwhelmed with grief over being forced to leave My Daughters.

The Detective drove me back to Our Home and as I got out of the car he handed me one of the teddy bears that they gave out at the Hospital. I said, They have taken away my girls and he said, the bear might be a comfort to you. I could not believe his words. How could a stuffed toy replace Bethany, Lydia and Miriam?

I went and sat alone in our empty Motorhome. It was then that I realized just how much I had been lied to by both the Police Officers and SCF workers. During the course of those hours on July 31st the Police coerced entry into my home using threats intimidation and fraud. I was lied to about the Police just wanting to see My Daughters. I was lied to about the Police just wanting to talk to My Daughters. I was lied to about the Polices and SCFs concern about the health and well being of My Daughters because they offered no water or food as remedy, and called no doctor to the scene. SCF lied to me about just taking My Daughters to the Hospital because in taking them to the hospital, they were taking them away from us. SCF lied to me about having the goal of bringing families together, because they only worked to rip us apart from the very beginning. Detective Dan Evans lied about just taking Brian to be fingerprinted and photographed and instead locked him up making it possible to keep Our Daughters knowing Brian would never give them up. In the Hospital my Daughters were not treated, they were tested. In the Hospital My Daughters were subjected to sexual abuse. And now as a result of all these lies I sat alone in my home. The four most precious people in my life had been ripped away. If it had not been for God, then I would surely have died.

Humbly Submitted this 9th Day of October, 2000.

Ruth Elizabeth Christine

***********************************

BRIAN CHRISTINE'S AFFIDAVIT:

Date: July 31, 2000

I left my wife Ruth and 3 Daughters Bethany, Lydia and Miriam in our Motorhome to prepare and eat lunch while I went into the library to use their computer to conduct the internet business I tend to daily. I entered the library, got on a computer in the back section of the library and began my usual work.

In the middle of my work, I noticed my wife and Three Daughters coming toward me, somewhat out of breath and very distressed. She said to me "I dont know what to do, these police want to talk to the girls and I know they have no right". Then two armed officers in blue uniform approached me cutting my wife off. I told them I was busy doing my work. They motioned me back behind some bookshelves. They told me there had been an anonymous phone call from a man who reported a dehydrated appearing child. I said "So what does that have to do with me?" He responded saying; "We have to check out situations like this in case theres something wrong. We need to talk to the children." I said, "Go ahead and talk to them, theyre right there!" He said that he wanted an SCF worker to talk to them. I asked him what SCF had to do with this anonymous phone call? He said that SCF needed to see the children. I told him "No Way! All this over an anonymous phone call? SCF has absolutely no authority over me or my wife or Daughters, I never agreed to be under their jurisdiction and their rules conflict with and usurp my religious beliefs!"

Then he asked me for my ID. I asked him why he needed to see my ID. "To verify who you are", he said. After some debate, I reluctantly gave him my Indiana Drivers License. I told the officer how embarrassing it was to have two armed and uniformed police crashing into the library and swarming around me like some kind of criminal in front of My Daughters and the Public, all over an anonymous phone call.

I decided to walk out to Our Home with my Wife and Daughters. The police walked along side me as if escorting me. I ushered my wife and Three Daughters into Our Home and I myself also entered, beginning to make preparations to leave. More police cars came onto the scene and blocked us in by forming a loose barricade with their cars. There were no breaks in the cars large enough for our Morothome to fit through, so I knew we were not free to leave.

There were at least 5 armed and uniformed officers, one armed but un-uniformed police detective and at least 3 SCF workers scurrying around our bus. I did not shut the door of Our Home because I believed they would use this as an excuse of claiming I was hiding or retrieving a weapon and serious problems might develop. I did not feel it would be wise or prudent to provoke any possible corrupt police officers by closing My door, especially with My Daughters present and having heard stories about corruption in Grants Pass Law Enforcement.

I ignored the police in my doorway while I put my belongings away. All of the officers were walking around Our Home inspecting it, chuckling, and peering through windows. It looked like a SWAT operation. I was disgusted at the way these officers of the law were conducting themselves. I heard SCF agents talking of "Anger Management Classes", "Nutrition Courses" and "Child Custody".

Eventually, the armed but un-uniformed police detective, Dan Evans, came to the door of Our Home and began talking to me. He told me his name and that he was an investigator. Since he was with the police I believed he would be reasonable to talk to because I didnt believe that the police would have a vested interest in removing Sons and Daughters from Homes and breaking up Families. I clearly told him that I would talk to him alone and do all things through him. I refused to talk to SCF and repeated myself many times on this point.

I told him that we were travelling and that we are residents of Indiana as verified by our Indiana driver licenses and the Indiana license plate on our Motorhome. I asked him to produce the contract that I had signed which placed me under his jurisdiction or under SCFs jurisdiction. He could not produce it. Then he asked me if I was a Constitutionalist? I wondered if he might have prejudice against Constitutionalists and I replied "No, but I do know I have rights and you took an oath to uphold them". He said "Thats OK, we respect that you dont recognize our jurisdiction, but thats something youll have to deal with later in the courts."

I asked him what rights I had and he remained silent. I asked other officers what rights I had and they all remained silent. I asked what courses of action I could take and they remained silent. They withheld from me the very information that they took an oath to protect and serve me with. They denied me proper counsel, instead giving me fraudulent lies and threats.

The Detective told me that he was running out of time for doing this the peaceful way. A man wearing a white shirt and an arm brace on his left arm who had been peering in the front window now spoke up and said that the detective was doing me a favor and that if it would have been him doing the investigation, he would have just arrested me and thrown me in jail to begin with and then he would have taken the kids. This mans words and behavior disgusted me. I couldnt believe what was happening. I was wishing I had a cell phone so I could call in some friend or anyone to come and help us while we were being surrounded and interrogated by all these armed men.

The detective told me I needed to start cooperating. I asked him what would happen if I didnt cooperate and didnt let anyone in. He said, "Well, well have to arrest you and drag the kids out kicking and screaming if we have to, but we dont like to do it that way." I was afraid and began to feel nauseous. I realized we were outnumbered by the armed men surrounding us, denying us any help or counsel. The Detectives persistent hounding and threats made it clear we were not free to go. I turned to my wife and asked her what she thought we should do?

The detectives words had cut me deep and after more than an hour of these peoples constant hounding, I didnt know what to do. I couldnt bear the thought of my Daughters being forcefully removed and I began to listen to these peoples lies. They told me that they had the girls best interest at heart. I could identify with this because my girls mean more to me than anything. I believed them. They told me that they wanted to help us out with food and money. I began to believe what they were telling us, that we had no choice in the matter, we had to submit and let them come into Our Home and interrogate our children. I still didnt trust them but I was feeling ill and had difficulty thinking properly. The whole experience was humiliating and degrading. My Wife looked at me and said, "I guess we have to let them in".

I repeated to the Detective that he was the only one I was going to go through. He said that SCF had to talk to the girls alone. I said "No Way!" I never leave my girls alone with strangers. I told him he alone could go back and talk to them. I couldnt understand why he wanted to talk to them alone? He asked me to leave but I refused.

Ruth was ordered to remove herself from Our Home while I sat in the front seat of the Motorhome. Fully armed, the Detective questioned My Daughters in the back. I put my head down on the steering wheel and wished it all away. I was utterly disgusted with what was happening and I asked myself, "What are they doing? Why is this stranger asking My Daughters about things that dont matter?

He did not seem concerned about giving any of My Daughters water or food. However, he immediately focused on Lydia who had a bruise and a band-aid on her forehead. I heard the detective ask her questions like "Who gave you your boo-boo?" and "Did daddy push you down?" There were many leading questions asked, some of which I will list here: "Are you hungry?" "Was Daddy angry" "Did daddy give you this bruise?" "Who hurt you?" "How did you get this bruise?" "Did daddy hurt you?" At first none of the girls would speak to him, but after a while My Middle Daughter of 3 years began to talk because the detective directed his questioning to her alone. She is unable to speak full and proper sentences and does not have a proper concept of time other than today and yesterday. An occurrence 2 years ago happened yesterday to in her mind.

These are the replies she gave during the interrogation: "Mommy was angry" "I peed my bed" "Got blood on it" "God did it" "Babba pushed me down". From these statements from a 3 year-old child, Detective Dan Evans had his evidence to charge me with a felony of assault 3 against My Own Daughter Lydia.

After he was done fishing he pulled me outside and told me, " It doesnt matter what you say, because Your Daughter has already incriminated you, but I want to hear your side of the story". He continued saying, "We all make mistakes, just a few hours ago I was on the phone with my son and I got angry with him and started yelling at him because of what he was doing. I was wrong to shout at him like that in anger." I then told him that I would speak to him as a man, but not legally. I repeated what Lydia had told him and said other things. Then he asked me a few questions about my past, "Have you ever gotten angry?" etc. He told me I was going to have to take "Anger Management Classes".

At this point, I began having difficulty understanding what was happening. From the time I was approached in the Library it was obvious I was not free to go. Our Motorhome was blocked in by a hedge on two sides and police cars on the remaining 2. Yet I had not been read my rights, and no one had responded to my questions about my rights.

After I did my best to give account of what had actually happened I told the Detective that I had only spoken to him as man to man, not legally. My rights had not been read to me and to my understanding he just wanted to know personally, that is exactly how he made it appear. His true intention was about to surface.

He walked me back over to My Home and told me that I was wrong and that he was charging me with Assault 3, a felony charge. The Detective then told me that he would take me to the county jail for fingerprinting and photos and that I would probably be released shortly thereafter. Ruth, Our Daughters and I were then escorted into Our Home while they did paperwork outside.

I was then taken aside to an alley where I was questioned about the girls ages by Spencer Soderlind, an SCF caseworker. I told him I was feeling ill and kept requesting to sit or lay down. No one paid attention, so I simply sat down on the curb. I answered what questions I could, but I felt like I was in shock, barely conscious. It should have been obvious that I was not feeling well, so I dont know why they kept hounding me for information.

I got up and walked back to My Home and went in with Ruth and Our Daughters. The Detective came into Our Home and asked a few more questions. We were all very scared and Ruth was crying. I picked Lydia up and gave her a long hug and then put her down and told her to be strong. I then looked at the Detective and asked him "What do you see? Do you see people here who deserve this? What did we ever do?" He said, "You obviously love Your Daughters, otherwise you wouldnt be teaching them how to read, to write, do math" etc. He said that Bethany looked healthy but that Lydia and Miriam appeared malnourished and dehydrated to him.

No one ever asked if any of them had been ill or had conditions or allergies. The other caseworkers also said that it was obvious that we love our children. I asked them how they could accuse the children of dehydration and malnutrition when Ruth and the girls were eating and drinking when the 1st officer peered through the window to speak with Ruth. The empty plates and glasses were on the floor through the entire first part of the interrogation and the kids still had jam on their faces when they were taken. No one answered these questions. They simply claimed that they needed to take them to the hospital to have them checked out.

There was obviously no evidence of abuse in Our Home, so they were going to take them to their own arena of familiar state paid doctors to "produce" some evidence. But before this, I needed to be removed from the picture because it was apparent I wouldnt let them keep my God Given Daughters. We were then removed from Our Home to depart. Before leaving the library parking lot, I informed the Detective that I take critical to life medicine twice a day, once each morning and once each evening, and that without it, severe spasmatic reaction and asthma is imminent. I could see the possibility of not getting back to my medicine for a while. He said, "Dont worry about it, when they book you in the jail, they wont allow any pills or drugs and you should be out in a matter of hours anyway".

I hesitated at his answer but saw no choice but to trust him. I had no knowledge of jails or legal procedures, having no previous police record of any kind, not even a traffic ticket. My wife had been questioned during all this and I now saw that they were taking her and Our Daughters to the hospital to have them checked out. I began to cry as I saw My Daughters being placed into an unknown mini-van. I told them I loved them and then looked away because I couldnt take the pain.

The Detective told me that he wasnt going to cuff me but would have me escorted over to the station unrestrained. I thought that odd for a felon to be allowed to go about unrestrained. Then a uniformed and armed woman stood on my left and the man with the white shirt and arm brace on his left arm stood on my right and escorted me with no body contact to the police station.

I was taken to a tiny room adjacent to the Detectives cubicle and was asked to sit down at a small table with two chairs facing each other. After a few moments, the Detective occupied the other chair. On the table was a cassette tape recorder. He inserted a tape and pushed record. He told me that I probably knew my rights better than he did and asked me if I knew my rights? I asked him to read them to me. After he read me my rights I informed him that I intended to exercise my 5th Amendment right to remain silent. He then asked me if he had threatened me in any way and I began to say no, but realized that indeed he had, so I again reminded him that I was choosing to exercise my 5th Amendment right to remain silent. He then said, "I wish you would have told me that before so I wouldnt have wasted a tape."

He then moved me to his office space and asked me a few questions like where it happened and when it happened. I said I didnt know. Then I was taken to the jail where I was stripped of my clothes, my bible, my every possession, except my glasses. I was given jail clothes and placed in a holding cell with a piece of vinyl mat and a scratchy blanket which I wrapped around myself because I was shivering.

By this time I badly needed to urinate, but no one heard my beating on the door or calling out for the guard so I had to urinate into a drain in the floor. This was a humiliating experience and I hoped no one would barge into the cell while I was doing this.

About an hour later, I was served dinner which I could not eat. I was simply too traumatized. I could not eat during my entire incarceration at the jail. Later I was taken to a temporary holding cell which had a bed, linens, a sink and a toilet. If I spoke loudly I could talk to the prisoners in the cells adjacent to mine, though I could never actually see anyone. I asked the other prisoners what I could do to get the medicine I was now past due on. They told me that I would have to ask the guard when he came around. This I did and the guard told me that I would have to wait until morning to see the nurse if he was on duty and he would have to prescribe me the medicine! I told him that I usually take the medicine at 5pm and then again first thing in the morning. The guard shrugged his shoulders, turned and walked away.

I laid down on the bed and prayed to God to get me through the night without dying. I did make it through, though I was very ill, and short of breath. In the evening I was served a snack which I couldnt eat because I still felt ill. I didnt sleep much because of all the thoughts going around in my head. Mostly all I could think of was my poor family and what they must be going through without me there to help and protect them. I prayed for mercy from God and this was the hardest night of my life!

I had heard it said at some point that my initial hearing would probably be 1 month from the time of my arrest and I knew that it was possible that they could hold me there in jail until that time. I was devastated. I felt like an animal pacing back and forth not knowing what to do. Eventually I was taken out of the cell to have my fingerprints and photos taken. The fingerprinting was a violating experinece, but I was happy to be out of that cell for a few moments! Unfortunately I was returned to the cell until the the 1st of August (Bethanys Birthday). The next morning I still had no medicine and no sign of the nurse. I was served breakfast which I could not eat because I was still too traumatized and ill.

Before midday I was taken to see the release officer who reviewed my information. He told me that I had basically admitted to the crime and asked me why I was so angry. I told him that I wasnt angry and he began to speak of how my eyes twitched and about how my body language said that I was uncomfortable. I told him that all I cared about was getting my family back together. He said that he was reluctant to release a "transient" with a felony charge back out on the streets. I
told him that I knew that if I didnt show up in court that I would be a fugitive in every state because of the felony charge.

He pointed out to me the fact that I have no criminal record and that my wife and I both have college degrees and that I am an Eagle Scout. He wanted to know about our financial business and how we make a living. I told him about our Internet business. He seemed puzzled why a person such as myself would find himself in jail. I was puzzled as well. Eventually he decided to release me and about two hours later I was released downtown Grants Pass, but only to find that our Motorhome was gone and my wife nowhere to be found. I was alone in a strange town with no where to go!

I was not notified of a trial date set for that day nor was I notified that My Daughters had been confiscated by the State of Oregon and placed into protective custody. The Protective Custody Reports state that "Parents were notified of this hearing today and of protective custody".

I remembered the welcome to Grants Pass, Oregon sign I had seen on my way into town and shook my head in dismay! I recalled it stating the population, but never did it warn of possible seizure of Daughters and property without notice or warrant.

Humbly Submitted this 9th Day of October, 2000.

Brian Edward Christine

On May 28, 2002  Brian was sentenced to no less than 12 1/2 years in prison.  Ruth was sentenced to no less than 7 1/2 years in prison.  These were from charges connected with trying to rescue their children from state custody.  Their three oldest children now live with Ruth's parents in England.  The two youngest live with Brian's parents in Indiana.  The Christines still await trial in Grants Pass, Oregon on charges of child abuse and neglect.