Woman Says She Took Son Due to Fears of Drugs, Molestation

Betty Lou Batey, the fundamentalist Christian accused of taking her son from his homosexual father, testified Thursday that she believed her son would have been exposed to drugs, alcohol and molestation by strangers unless she took him away.

During the first day of her trial on child stealing charges, Batey said that she took her son, Brian, not because of his father’s homosexual life style but because his father had become a “liberal and militant.”

“Frank is not the same person as when we were married,” said Betty Lou Batey as she sobbed during part of her testimony.

She is charged with two counts of felony child stealing for the time Brian was with her from August, 1982, to April, 1984.

Denials by Father

Frank Batey, who was called by Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Boles as his only witness in the trial, denied that he smoked marijuana and said that his son never saw him involved in any sexual contact with his boyfriend.

Boles, in opening arguements, said he wanted to show the jury that Betty Lou Batey tried to turn her son against his father by telling him that he was a “sinner.”

“Mrs. Batey took that child in violation of that court order,” Boles said.

Defense attorney Michael Farris told the jury in opening arguments that Frank Batey’s conduct around his son and at home showed that Betty Lou Batey “was afraid that Brian was in grave and imminent danger” when she decided to take her son from her El Cajon apartment to Texas.

On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Douglas R. Woodworth overruled the prosecution’s objections to Betty Lou Batey’s use of a “defense of necessity”--her argument that she took her son in an emergency to keep him from being associated with the homosexual life style that his father was involved in.

On Thursday, Brian, 16, told the district attorney that he would not testify because he did not want to help prosecute his mother.

Explanation to Judge

Boles told Woodworth during the first day of the proceedings that he was unable to call Brian because he would not testify for the prosecution even if he were arrested for contempt of court.

“He indicated to me that he would not testify,” Boles told Woodworth. “He said he didn’t want to say anything that would cause his mom to be convicted.”

Frank Batey, 42, the only prosecution witness, said he has had a 12-year monogamous relationship with his male lover. They maintain a home in Palm Springs.

“We’re probably like a lot of heterosexual couples,” he said. “I don’t run around.”

Batey said his former wife, whom he divorced in 1975 after six years of marriage, had a son and daughter out of wedlock, adding, “I think she forgot who the father was of the daughter.”

Batey denied any open encounters of sexual activity in front of his son or any criminal violations.

“I don’t think he’s seen me in the nude in bed,” Frank Batey testified. “He knows we slept together. To be honest, I don’t remember him seeing us in bed.”

Frank Batey added that he could not have grown marijuana or smoked the illegal drug because of his bronchial illness and other lung problems. He admitted that he occasionally drank wine with his meals and would sometimes share beer with his son because, he said, it is important for parents to teach their children about alcohol and that it is best to do that at home.

Testimony by Mother

In a series of accusations directed at her ex-husband, Betty Lou Batey testified Thursday that, before she took her son to Texas, she found him crying uncontrollably one night and he told her he had seen his father and another man lying in bed together.

She recounted that Brian told her that he had gone to his father’s Palm Springs home after his parents’ divorce, and discovered numerous men and women swimming nude in the swimming pool.

She also testified that her son told her that his father was growing marijuana plants at their home. Brian said he was willing to run away from home to avoid being with his father, she said.

The mother told the court that her son also commented to her that he drank beer and wine with his father when he was 11 years old.

“An 11-year-old boy drinking alcohol . . . of course, I believed (he was in danger),” Betty Lou Batey said.

Boles, the prosecutor, told the judge that the teen-ager indicated to the prosecution that he would not give testimony that would be damaging to either his mother or his father. As a result, Boles told the court that he would not use the boy as a witness.

Condition for Taking Stand

However, after meeting with Brian and attorneys for both parties, the judge said that Brian would be willing to testify in front of a jury if he did it without being in the presence of his parents or the public.

Defense lawyer Farris said Betty Lou Batey was unable to decide whether her son should testify out of their presence. Lawyers for both parties said they wanted Brian to testify because they said his testimony would help their cases.

Woodworth said he will decide Monday, when the trial resumes, what action to take.

In other developments, Farris asked that Woodworth dismiss the charges because California does not have any jurisdiction over the matter.

In rebuttal, Boles countered, “Everything about this case happened in this state.”

The Bateys were members of the United Pentecostal Church in San Diego when they got married in 1969. Brian was born in 1971, and the couple was divorced in 1975.

Betty Lou Batey was originally granted custody of her son, but when she cut off Brian’s visits with his father in 1980, Frank Batey took the matter to court. Custody of the boy was then awarded to his father in August, 1982.

Two weeks later, when Betty Lou Batey picked Brain up for a scheduled weekend visit, they disappeared for 19 months.

She surrendered to the FBI in April, 1984, in Denver, explaining that she had taken Brian to protect him from his father’s life style. A Superior Court judge reaffirmed Frank Batey’s custody rights last July.