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Plea bargain in the works for kidnapping defendants The Associated Press GRANTS PASS - The lawyer defending Ruth and Brian Christine on criminal charges alleging they kidnapped their children at gunpoint from state social workers expects to negotiate a plea bargain that would avoid a trial. "We're talking an omnibus deal," Leeon Aller, Brian Christine's attorney, said Wednesday. "I expect we'll be able to resolve these cases." Ruth Christine, 28, and Brian Christine, 29, face criminal charges in Douglas County stemming from the gunpoint kidnapping of their children last August. In Josephine County, they face criminal mistreatment charges stemming from a year earlier, when state social workers took the three girls into state custody because they had allegedly been starved for discipline. Brian Christine also faces an assault charge for allegedly hitting one of the girls for wetting the bed. Aller said the negotiations were about what would be done with the couple's children. Besides the three girls taken into state custody, they have two girls born afterwards who are living with Brian Christine's mother in Noblesville, Ind. The Douglas County case is set for trial March 19, but Aller said any plea bargain could be announced at the next court appearance Jan. 7. The Christines and a third defendant, Matthew Gerawan, were arrested in Montana following the kidnapping. Gerawan is free on bail, but faces similar charges in the case for allegedly helping the couple. The Christines have remained in jail in Roseburg in lieu of $500,000 bail. After a supervised visit with the children in Grants Pass, Brian Christine allegedly followed the girls and the social workers when they pulled into an Interstate 5 rest stop near Myrtle Point. Police say he pointed a gun at one of the social workers and made off with the girls. The Josephine County criminal case is scheduled for Jan. 29 and a third case, in which the state has moved to terminate the couple's parental rights, is set for trial Feb. 20. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.