[ql06] Re: TORT: Rent-a-cops and False Imprisonment
- From: "K.K. Campbell -- LAW'06" <2kc16@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ql06@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 18:19:32 -0400
Egad...
Don't miss this part of rent-a-cop professionalism:
Farber said Van Blake, nearly 6 feet, 5 inches tall and
weighing more than 300 pounds, sat on him and tried to
force pills in his mouth as he strangled him with one
hand.
His lawyer said:
"Obviously, you use whatever force is necessary to save
someone."
I'll take Metro Police any day.
Ken.
--
It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery
of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.
-- Fielding Mellish
Woody Allen's hapless revolutionary
Bananas, 1970
--- cut here ---
Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
September 18, 2003, Thursday
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. B01
LENGTH: 740 words
HEADLINE: Defendants on mission for CIA
Defense attorneys say their clients were duped into helping kidnap a
9-year-old boy.
STEVE FETBRANDT
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
Two men who broke into a Palm Desert man's home last year, beat him and
took off with his 9-year-old son thought they were on a mission for the
CIA, their defense attorneys said Wednesday in court.
The two men, Rodrique Van Blake, 28, and Elias Gutierrez, 29, former
security guards, have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping,
burglary, child stealing, child concealing, false imprisonment and
assault with a deadly weapon.
The child, Nicholas Farber, became the focus of an "Amber Alert"
nationwide search in August 2002 after his abduction.
Authorities located the boy two days later and arrested his mother,
Debra Rose, 39, and her companion, Michael Riley, 49, at a San Diego
County campground.
Rose, 39, of Colorado Springs has pleaded not guilty to charges of child
stealing, assault, child concealing, false imprisonment and burglary.
In opening statements before Riverside County Superior Court Judge
Michele Levine, Deputy District Attorney Cindy Nguyen accused the
defendants of conspiring to take Nicholas away from his father by force
even though he had lawful custody of the child.
Van Blake's defense attorney, Mickie Reid, said his client was an
unwitting pawn of Riley, a man who supposedly convinced the other
defendants he was a CIA agent trying to save people's lives, including
Nicholas'.
Rose's attorney, John Hemmer, added that the case actually grew out of a
long-standing custody battle between the boy's father, Michael Farber,
and Rose.
Using a graphic aid, Reid walked jurors through a complex set of
relationships and events that ultimately brought the defendants together
through Van Blake's aunt, an acquaintance of Rose's.
Reid said Riley recruited Van Blake, a former Marine who was preparing
to become a law-enforcement officer, who in turn recruited Gutierrez to
help him retrieve Nicholas.
"My client was under the complete mistaken belief he was working for the
CIA and his belief was he was saving the life of some people," Reid said
outside the courtroom. "Obviously, you use whatever force is necessary
to save someone. He thought he was acting with proper authority and had
been hired to do this by the CIA and was the perfect person because of
his military background and outstanding citizenship."
Reid said Van Blake believed his aunt and the child were in imminent
danger.
"Different people were in different danger, but he thought they had to
all be relocated to a safehouse," she said. "He thought Nicholas was in
danger from his father, from what he had been told."
Reid said the evidence and testimony will show how Riley used his
computer skills and persuasiveness to make the others believe scenarios
that people were after them.
The aunt supposedly was in danger, for example, of being killed by a
person who had stolen her identity in Germany, Reid said.
"It sounds outlandish until you hear all of the facts," Reid said. "In
fact, you're going to hear from a long list of people who believed the
very same thing, who were all normal, educated citizens."
After opening statements, Farber testified how he had gone to Colorado
after his former wife was arrested in an earlier case, brought Nicholas
back to the Coachella Valley and obtained a court order granting him
custody. He described how Van Blake and Gutierrez broke down his door
shortly before 2 a.m. on Aug. 28, 2002, and started beating and kicking
him.
"I was fighting for my life," he said.
Farber said Van Blake, nearly 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighing more
than 300 pounds, sat on him and tried to force pills in his mouth as he
strangled him with one hand. When that failed, Van Blake used two hands
to try to strangle him, Farber said.
Reid told the jury before Farber testified that Van Blake was under
orders from Riley not to hurt Farber but to give him the pills so he
would sleep.
Farber said he recalled seeing Nicholas standing in the hallway as he
was fighting with his assailants but did not actually see him leave with
anyone.
"At some point, ... (Gutierrez) stopped kicking me, and Nicholas was
gone," Farber said. "I was beaten from head to toe."
Farber said the two men left a gun behind.
Jurors also listened to the 911 call Farber made immediately following
the attack. At one point, Farber could be heard telling the emergency
dispatcher in a very agitated voice, "This is the work of my ex-wife."
GRAPHIC: (1-2) Debra Rose, left, has pleaded not guilty to charges of
child stealing, assault, child concealing, false imprisonment and
burglary. Michael Riley, right, was arrested with her. (3-4) Rodrique
Van Blake, left, and Elias Gutierrez have pleaded not guilty to charges
of kidnapping, burglary, child stealing, child concealing, false
imprisonment and assault with a deadly weapon.; MUGS
LOAD-DATE: September 23, 2003
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