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MORNING STAR BOYS' RANCH abuse trials (2010-2011)

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Ursus:
Washington Courts
Courts of Washington and Idaho

Morning Star — Day 2, Witnesses
Posted on January 21, 2010, 10:41 am, by Steve Eugster, under Morning Star Boys Ranch.

The first witness in Day 2 was Paul Baggett. — When he was 9 or 10, his mother, who worked at The Spokesman-Review, sent him off to, and paid his way, at Morning Star Boys Ranch. He was there for two to three years. He says he has no clear recollections of the Ranch. He said he was small and that a bigger boy named Tony molested him on several occasions. He said he told a certain nurse. He also said he told Father Joe Weitensteiner, but that Tony's efforts continued.

He said he was in a boxing program and that Patrick O'Donnell introduced himself to him and that they became friends. O'Donnell did not work at the Ranch. He said that O'Donnell engaged in sexually inappropriate contact with him at an outing at Priest Lake. He also said that this contact took place in Mr. O'Donnell's car in the Spokane area. He said there were 4 or 5 times that O'Donnell and he were together. He said he told Father Joe of this at the Ranch. He said that about the time he saw O'Donnell in the hallway and that he went in to father Joe's office. He said the sexual contact continued.

The plausibility of this testimony seemed to fall away as Jim King, the attorney for Morning Star, conducted cross examination. At one time, Mr. Baggett had provided a therapist with information about his sexual history. He said he was heterosexual, that his first sexual relationship was when he was 11 and that was a positive experience, that the touching was not uncomfortable, that he was promiscuous.

He described a long history of using a variety of drugs including heroin, amphetamines by injection, methamphetamine at age 15 and daily marijuana use.

Back to O'Donnell — there were only two occasions. The other boy was Tony Thornton.

The nurse he said he talked to was not the one he said – at another time under oath he designated a different person.

Mr. Baggett hears voices. He met the Devil in Portland in 1987, he was black and wearing a baseball cap. The Devil told him about himself but did not say anything about Morning Star Boys Ranch. He said the Devil told him he was the Devil's son. Mr. Baggett speaks matter of factly when he describes his relationship with the Devil.

Next came Robert Duggan, a former board member at Morning Star Boys Ranch.

Then Shane Mayfield, a friend of Kenny Putnam. Mr. Mayfield is an interesting young man. He grew up in broken home and spent a good deal of time in trouble. But he turned himself around when he met his wife and went to community college and learned how to repair automatic transmissions. He says he is fascinated by the hydraulics and what one can make transmissions do. He has a transmission repair shop in northeast Spokane.

He has known Putnam for years, along with some other people in Spokane who have come from tough family situations. He spoke of Putnam's moods, his outbursts, his difficulty with women, his love of his daughter, his drug use. The picture one has from the testimony is that Kenny Putnam is aggressive at times and assertive at others; can also become quite withdrawn and has no trouble speaking up for himself.

Then another witness, Edmund Braune, was called about his work as a Board Member of Morning Star Boys Ranch.

The first witness in the afternoon was Sharon Saito, Putnam's attorney when he went to Morning Star and after. She became quite close to Putnam and saw him on many occasions. Putnam never mentioned being abused to her.

Awhile ago, she said she saw a newspaper article about Morning Star and the allegations of sexual conduct and mentioned the article to Putnam. Putnam acknowledged he was a part of the case.

It is odd he did not say anything to her when he was supposedly abused given the character Shane Mayfield described and the close relationship he had with Ms. Saito.

Father Joe Weitensteiner took the stand after Ms. Saito. His testimony will continue this morning. When it is finished, Kenny Putnam will be called to the stand, probably in the afternoon after court reconvenes at 1:30 P.M.


Tags: Baggett, Braun, Devil, Duggan, Mayfield, O'Donnell, Putnam, Saito, Thornton, Weitensteiner

Ursus:
The Spokesman-Review
Boys ranch ex-director testifies
Weitensteiner says he learned of ex-priest's pedophilia
January 21, 2010 in City

Kevin Graman

Patrick O'Donnell – whose infamy as the abuser of as many as 66 children was inextricably linked to the scandal that bankrupted the Catholic Diocese of Spokane – also insinuated himself into Morning Star Boys' Ranch, a Superior Court jury was told on Wednesday.

The former director and a former resident of the nonprofit home for troubled boys testified in the case of Kenneth Putnam v. Morning Star Boys' Ranch about their acquaintance with the defrocked priest O'Donnell.

Putnam accuses the Rev. Joseph Weitensteiner, 77, who retired as ranch director in 2006, and a now-deceased ranch counselor, Doyle Gillum, of sexually molesting him while he was a resident of the ranch in about 1986.

Putnam's is one of 19 lawsuits claiming sexual or physical abuse at Morning Star. The plaintiffs say ranch administrators knew or should have known about ongoing acts of child abuse and did nothing to stop it.

Under questioning by Putnam's Seattle attorney, Tim Kosnoff, Weitensteiner testified that he has known O'Donnell for decades and that O'Donnell was a Boy Scout in his troop when Weitensteiner was a Scout leader in the early 1950s.

Their acquaintance was renewed in the 1960s after Weitensteiner became a ranch counselor and later – after being ordained a Catholic priest in 1966 – director of Morning Star.

Weitensteiner testified that in the late 1970s or early 1980s, O'Donnell, a child psychologist who frequented the ranch, was preparing to conduct psychological evaluations of some of the boys. However, a woman called Morning Star to complain that O'Donnell was a pedophile who had undergone sexual deviancy treatment in Seattle from 1976 to 1978.

"We decided we better not use him," Weitensteiner said, adding that he did not believe O'Donnell returned to the ranch after that.

Weitensteiner said he did not notify the bishop or law enforcement about O'Donnell's relationship with Morning Star.

Also testifying on Wednesday was Paul Baggett, 48, who lived at Morning Star for about three years in the early 1970s. Baggett said that he was repeatedly sexually abused by O'Donnell on ranch property and on trips with the priest away from the ranch.

Baggett testified that he informed the ranch nurse and Weitensteiner of the abuse. Weitensteiner told Baggett he would speak to O'Donnell about it, but neither state child protective workers nor law enforcement were informed of the allegation, Baggett said.

Abuse of Baggett by O'Donnell and older boys at the ranch continued, he said.

Under questioning by Kosnoff and cross-examination by Morning Star's attorney, Jim King, Baggett acknowledged that he was a recovering drug addict who hallucinated that he heard voices and spoke with Satan while taking prescribed anti-psychotic medication.

Baggett also admitted to King that during a mental health evaluation in the 1990s he had denied having been molested. Baggett told King that he had lied about not having been abused.

"I'm ashamed of it, absolutely," he said.

Weitensteiner is expected to continue testifying today.


© Copyright 2010, The Spokesman-Review

Ursus:
The Spokesman-Review
Attorney alleges ranch director paid for witness' silence
January 21, 2010 in City

Kevin Graman

An unexpected witness may testify that former Morning Star Boys' Ranch director Joseph Weitensteiner had him procure boys for sex and then gave the witness money years later to keep it quiet, according to a motion Thursday in the first sex-abuse trial against the ranch.

The dramatic revelation in the lawsuit by Kenneth Putnam came outside the presence of the Superior Court jury when Judge Kathleen O'Connor demanded to know why Putnam's attorney had called an unscheduled witness three weeks into proceedings.

That witness is Michael Clarke, a former boys' ranch resident who is currently an inmate at the Airway Heights Corrections Center on a conviction of first-degree theft.

Putnam's attorney told the judge Clarke informed him Friday that in 2006 Weitensteiner allegedly paid Clarke $2,000 in exchange for Clarke not revealing that he groomed and procured other Morning Star boys to have sex with Weitensteiner. Clarke told the attorney, Tim Kosnoff, that those encounters took place in a nearby farmhouse, owned by the ranch, where Weitensteiner lived in the late 1970s.

Under questioning by Kosnoff on Wednesday, Weitensteiner denied giving money to Clarke, but said he had presided at Clarke's wedding. On Thursday, Weitensteiner denied that Clarke had procured boys for him. But the reason for those questions wasn't revealed until later Thursday.

Morning Star's attorney, Jim King, protested the admissibility of Clarke's testimony and the potential new line of evidence, saying it was a violation of trial management and "a whole different trial."

If Kosnoff wants to present such a case, "let him take it to the prosecutor," King told O'Connor. "We don't think Clarke has any place in this trial."

Kosnoff told the judge "nothing could be more central to this case" than Clarke's expected testimony. He said he can produce a witness who saw Weitensteiner hand Clarke an unsealed envelope containing the cash.

O'Connor ruled that Clarke would appear before her Monday morning and she would hear what he has to say, without the jury present, before ruling on the admissibility of his testimony.

In other testimony Thursday:

• Weitensteiner denied grooming Stephanie Miller for sexual contact. Miller, a transsexual who was born Carl Smith, is a former resident of the ranch who has filed a separate lawsuit against Morning Star claiming to have been sexually abused there.

• Under questioning by Kosnoff, Weitensteiner had difficulty recalling whether the ranch had a written policy regarding allegations of abuse.

• Putnam, 34, testified that he had been molested by Weitensteiner and a counselor, named Doyle Gillum, who is now deceased.

Putnam said Gillum came into his bedroom late at night and fondled him while he was under the influence of medication given to him by the ranch to control his bed-wetting.

He said he reported the incident to a supervisor, but that a week later Gillum again entered his room at night and began molesting him until Putnam slapped the counselor. Gillum "punched me so hard in the chest I couldn't breathe," Putnam said.

• He also testified that Weitensteiner molested him on the priest's 27-foot powerboat on Lake Coeur d'Alene where the priest took him and another boy in the early 1980s.

While Putnam, who was 10 or 11 years old, was lying down seasick, he said, Weitensteiner pulled down his shorts and touched him until the boy kicked Weitensteiner in the face, jumped overboard and swam to another boat. The other boater returned Putnam to Weitensteiner, who said the boy was mentally ill.

That night Weitensteiner took the boys back to his home at St. Patrick's Parish where he was pastor and again molested him, Putnam testified. Putnam recounted that Weitensteiner told him, "Nobody is ever going to believe you. Look who you are, an orphan. Nobody ever comes for you."

• He said Weitensteiner later fondled him again when he forced the boy onto his lap behind the wheel of the priest's car. Putnam was later taken from Morning Star Boys' Ranch and placed in a foster home in Chattaroy.

• King declined to cross-exam either Weitensteiner or Putnam. Both will be called as witnesses when the defense presents its case, probably next week.


© Copyright 2010, The Spokesman-Review

Ursus:
Comments for the above article, "Attorney alleges ranch director paid for witness' silence" (by Kevin Graman; The Spokesman-Review; Jan. 21, 2010):


Liberty_Bell on January 21 at 3:20 p.m.
It just never ends in Spokane Vote Lisa Brown!

RCW 9A.72.120
Tampering with a witness.

(1) A person is guilty of tampering with a witness if he or she attempts to induce a witness or person he or she has reason to believe is about to be called as a witness in any official proceeding or a person whom he or she has reason to believe may have information relevant to a criminal investigation or the abuse or neglect of a minor child to:

(a) Testify falsely or, without right or privilege to do so, to withhold any testimony; or

(b) Absent himself or herself from such proceedings; or

(c) Withhold from a law enforcement agency information which he or she has relevant to a criminal investigation or the abuse or neglect of a minor child to the agency.

(2) Tampering with a witness is a class C felony.twoandthree on January 21 at 6:40 p.m.
If I was King, I wouldn't want someone testifying about the grooming and payoffs..

He may not be an ethhical lawyer but he's not a stupid one.

"a whole new trial"? nope just a more honest one.

Better entertainment than skating.Stephen Eugster on January 21 at 7:52 p.m.
The trial Day 3, a Bomb is Dropped see http://www.washcourts.com/?p=166[/list]
Daisy Minken on January 21 at 11:12 p.m.
Always seems so odd that there is no evidence…just testimony
the no one can corroborate. It's always about the money….and lots of it. Attack the dead priests who cannot speak for themselves. Have the author of this article bring up a defrocked priest …and do a story full of unsavory innuendo.

Worse!.. have the commenters convict the Ranch even though not one of them knows the evidence nor has been to court to watch and listen…like I did today..(I'm here visitng parents).
Grow up people. Some things may have been done wrong but the courts will tell us.Liberty_Bell on January 22 at 7:12 a.m.
No the Courts won't Daisy?

Have you ever studied up on the Judges In Washington State?

An interesting model shown best in yesterdays trial, and Judicial Misconduct Commission hearings in Olympia?

Kind of like the Male Prostitution Ring, in the Pierce County Court, lead by the Judge of the Superior Court?

It's super duper, on the Superior Court too, pedophiles in action Judge Height likes em young too!

I suppose all those DSHS cases costing the State Hundreds of Millions, over the last few decades of incompentance, after the tip toe thru the tulip crowd decided that liberalism, needed to go to the priests hood too!

One step foward for a Republic, One step back for democracy@!Liberty_Bell on January 22 at 7:27 a.m.
Just like the Catholic's eh Daisy, "it's always about the money." Thats why they have so much of it, stealing it for Jesus! Explaining the Catholics 2000 years ago!

"Jesus said, Though shall not commit murder, Though shall not committ adultry, Though shall not steal, Though shall not bear false witness…the rich man will hardely enter the Kingdom of Heaven…"

Whoops, troubling for the Pope, thinkin you can buy your way to heaven???allabout on January 22 at 10:21 a.m.
I do think being in the court room and watching for one's self is a good way to form an opionion. I know it has got to be better than forming one from reading or watching TV.

If we all form opionions and have knowledge based on our own observations, that knowledge will serve us better than that of which we read in the paper or watch on the news.
Whether you believe what you hear on the news or read in the paper about anything, it is the "sources" opinion that is underlying in the writing -

© Copyright 2010, The Spokesman-Review

Ursus:
Washington Courts
Courts of Washington and Idaho

Morning Star, Day 3 — A Bomb is Dropped!
Posted on January 21, 2010, 10:50 pm, by Steve Eugster, under Judging, Morning Star Boys Ranch.

Thursday January 21, 2010 — 7:06 pm

Today was the third day of trial. Tim Kosnoff, plaintiff’s attorney, asked a few more questions of Father Joe Weitensteiner. Then it was time for Jim King, the attorney for Morning Star, to ask some questions. Kosnoff had called Father Joe as an adverse witness in his case. King did not have to cross examine him so he passed and deferred to the questions and testimony he would secure when he called Father Joe as part of his case.

Then, Kosnoff put his client, Kenny Putnam, on the stand. ( More about this in a later post.) Putnam answered a several questions and then about 11:30 am or so Kosnoff was finished. King did not cross examine Putnam. Again, he deferred to the questions he would ask in the course of his direct testimony of Putnam when he puts on the case for the defense, for Morning Star.

There may have been another reason for waiting to do cross examination of these witnesses – to defer the questioning at a later time. This has to do with what I call one of the “local, local rules” which Judge O’Connor imposes in trials in her court. The particular local, local rule in question here is that in her court, the amount of time for cross examination cannot be more than the amount of the time of the direct examination. An interesting rule (to say the least).

Kosnoff expected the testimonies of Father Joe and Kenny Putnam to take the rest of the day. He had no witnesses to call, no witnesses present or available. What to do? The judge took this in stride and dismissed the jury for the day. They are to come back on Monday ready for trial starting at 9:00 AM, Monday, January 25, 2010.

With the jurors gone, discussions began about the future timing of the case and the witnesses. Mr. Kosnoff said his case would be over by Tuesday instead of the planned day of Wednesday. The first witness on Monday is to be Michael Clarke.

This is when the bomb was dropped.

There have been discussions regarding witness Michael Clarke all week. He is incarcerated at the Airway Heights Correctional Facility and there have been difficulties making arrangements for him to be transferred from the prison to the courthouse for the trial. Transportation must be arranged and officers present to ensure he does not break from custody. The dispute has been who is responsible for this effort and cost, the people at Airway Heights or the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. Apparently arrangements have now been made for Monday.

Another part of the matter of Clarke as a witness has to do with why he is being called. He is being called at the last minute and apparently as a result of a reference to Mr. Clarke by Stephanie Miller (formerly Carl Smith). The attorneys were to have an hour or so with Mr. Clarke before he testified.

But, again, Mr. King wanted to know why Clarke was being called. At this time, Mr. Kosnoff explained the Miller connection and then, rather dramatically, he looked back toward the audience in the courtroom and then looked back to Judge O’Connor and said that Father Joe had paid $2,000 cash to Clarke for his silence, that Clarke had procured boys for Father Joe, that Father Joe and a lawyer, a man by the name of Daley, had met with Mr. Clarke to review his testimony and that there was another person who witnessed the delivery of an envelop by Father Joe to Mr. Clarke.

The courtroom was stunned, at least those of us in the courtroom who did not know what was coming, were stunned. One suspects others knew. During the week, there have been other lawyers in the audience in the courtroom who have clients who are also bringing cases against Morning Star. Julie Twyford was also there. She is the attorney for Michael Clarke.

Mr. King was surprised and objected to Mr. Clarke being called.

Judge O’Connor kept her composure. She decided that Mr. Clarke would come to court on Monday January 25 and that he would be examined by the attorneys out of the presence of the jury. She also said she may want to have the testimony of the lawyer who met with Mr. Clarke with Father Joe.

The case has taken on a completely different character; there is something afoot which is not going to be very pretty. In fact, what was said involves serious criminal liability. The question is going to be, whose criminal liability?


Tags: Clarke, O'Connor, Weitensteiner

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