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Only On 2: Interview with Brian and Ruth Christine

PORTLAND - The Oregon couple who took their children from state social workers at gunpoint say they still don’t see how their actions landed them in jail.

In their first interview since being sentenced, Brian and Ruth Christine spoke about spending the next seven years of their lives in jail and away from their families.

The Christines are both currently in the Douglas County Jail awaiting transfers to separate state prisons. Unless their appeals go through, Ruth will serve 7.5 years, and Brian will serve 12.5 years.

Right now, they say they are still struggling to understand why their children were taken away.

Deputies turned down KATU’s request for a joint interview session, so separate interviews were conducted. Brian Christine arrived with photos of his family in hand along with a card from his oldest daughter, Bethany.

During the trial, Bethany testified against her parents, at the request of the prosecuting attorney.

“It just shows what the system really does with kids,” said Brian Christine.

It was the Christines' treatment of their children that prompted authorities to separate the family 2 summers ago.

Testifying for the state, an emergency room doctor said the girls were severely underfed. Two-year old Miriam weighed just 15 pounds.

“Yes Miriam had been sick, yes she'd lost weight,” said Ruth Christine, “She didn't look like a kid from Africa.“

The Christines insist they were loving parents who didn't want to their kids to be obese. As part of their Christian faith, they sometimes fasted as a family, but only for half a day. They say they remain confused, unable to see how their actions landed them in jail.

“Sometimes you just blink, ‘is this really my life?’ said Ruth Christine. “Am I really going to prison for seven years?”

“It's really a bizarre position to be in,” said Brian Chistine. “We're not criminals but we're in jail with drug addicts and dealers and car thieves.”

But the Christines are convicted criminals. A jury convicted them of charges including custodial interference and robbery. Brian Christine’s use of a gun was also a key point in the trial.

In the summer of 2001, Brian pointed a loaded 357 magnum at a state social worker - ordering the worker out of the van that held his children. Christine claims it was the better option.

Christine is serving an extra 5 years for his actions with the gun.

“There's ways to do things where you hurt somebody and there's ways to do things where you wouldn't have to,” explained Brian Christine, “that was the only option to not hurt someone.”

During their sentencing hearing, Ruth Christine told the judge she was sorry the social workers had been traumatized by their actions.

Now Ruth says she and Brian had simply lost hope that they would ever get their children back.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” said Ruth Christine. “If you ask someone to give your kids to you, are they going to do it? Probably not.”

"The system makes a big deal out of a gun...like Ruth said, I don't like that they [the social workers] are affected by that, that's upsetting, but as a father, I have a duty to protect my family," Brian Christine told KATU.

"Basically," continued Brian Christine, "my worst fears were having my wife, my kids and my freedom taken away from me...all those things have happened to me now."

The Christines' attorney is appealing their Measure 11 robbery convictions.

Brian Christine was a Boy Scout, a nature-lover, and a self-described family man who had no previous criminal record.