Santee Pastor Will Spend Thanksgiving in Jail, Judge Rules

A federal judge Wednesday refused to allow the Rev. Dorman Owens to spend Thanksgiving at his church and with his family, and said he will review two controversial tape recordings before making a decision next week on whether bail should be allowed for the fundamentalist Baptist preacher.

Thomas Warwick, Owens’ attorney, told Judge Earl B. Gilliam in an hourlong hearing that his client “won’t violate his oath to God” when he promises that, if released from jail, he will not contact or influence his fellow parishioners, six of whom are charged along with Owens with conspiracy to bomb a San Diego abortion clinic.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Larry A. Burns conceded that Owens, pastor of the Bible Missionary Fellowship Church in Santee, does not represent “a mob network with goons out there ready to beat people up.”

“But,” Burns told the judge, “Mr. Owens is not here because of his views on abortion. He’s here because of certain acts he took in regard to blowing up abortion clinics. He’s here because of the potential for that kind of harm.”

Owens, 54, and six members of his church were arrested this month and charged with conspiring to bomb the Family Planning Associates Medical Group on Alvarado Road last summer.

Bomb Did Not Explode

Earlier, an eighth church member, Eric Svelmoe, was charged with actually placing a bomb at the clinic in July. He has been held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center downtown ever since. Police have said the bomb did not explode only because a candle placed next to it blew out.

U.S. District Judge Earl B. Gilliam said he will review the tapes of two jailhouse conversations between Owens and another church member and other evidence. He said he then will hold a second bail review hearing at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday before ruling on Owens’ request that bail be allowed.

Warwick told the judge that he had recently learned that jail officials were placing Owens in a solitary cell for protection in MCC.

“Now, not only do we have incarceration, but we also have total lockdown,” Warwick said.

He said seven or eight of Owens’ relatives and other members of the Santee church have pledged up to $600,000 in personal property as equity should bail be allowed. He told the judge that, if released, Owens would live alone in his son’s home in Ramona.

“Pastor Owens would essentially live in seclusion up there,” Warwick said.

‘Acceptable to God’s Law’

However, Burns said there was reason to believe Owens might attempt to contact and influence the seven other defendants in the criminal case. He told the judge that Owens has in the past violated court orders restricting his conduct.

“He is a person who believes he’s not acceptable to man’s law, but that he’s acceptable to God’s law,” Burns said. “He doesn’t believe he’s bound by whatever laws are applied in this courtroom.

“I don’t believe that by his title of pastor that he’s entitled to any special privileges.”

Warwick acknowledged that Owens was indeed once fined $100 for violating a judge’s ruling restricting him at a picket site. But he said Owens in the last three years has been very careful to obey court orders.

In staging picket lines and protesting abortion, church members are only exercising their right to free speech, Warwick said.

“This (case) goes beyond Pastor Owens,” Warwick said. “There is a church Pastor Owens founded 16 years ago. He built a school. He educated children. It is a fundamentalist church and they have the right to express their views on abortion and try to make some changes.”

Faces Additional Charges

Owens faces additional charges of attempting to persuade Svelmoe not to cooperate with government attorneys during two tape-recorded meetings the pastor held with the 32-year-old Svelmoe in the jail.

In recent years, the Bible Missionary Fellowship Church in Santee has been sharply critical of abortion, homosexuality and pornography. The Alvarado Road clinic and similar clinics, as well as homosexual gatherings and X-rated movie houses, have been picketed extensively by church members.

The thrust of arguments at Wednesday’s bail review hearing centered on the Nov. 2 and 3 tape recordings of jail conversations between Owens and Svelmoe. Federal authorities wired Svelmoe for sound during the visits.

The government alleged that Owens voluntarily came to the jail to meet with Svelmoe to persuade him not to cooperate with government officials in the criminal case.

But the defense indicated that the government entrapped Owens into making assertions during the conversations that could be construed as being incriminating.

Burns said it was a “gross misrepresentation” to characterize the two jailhouse meetings as friendly conversations between a pastor and his parishioner.

‘Just Say You Don’t Recall’

He said Owens can be heard on the tapes counseling Svelmoe to leave out “certain names” when talking with government officials and to “just say you don’t recall or you don’t remember” when questioned before the grand jury about specific facts.

“It’s clear Pastor Owens intended to hide his own participation” in the conspiracy, Burns said.

But Warwick said the tapes show that Owens did not “directly” attempt to influence Svelmoe and that Owens instead simply encouraged Svelmoe to let the attorneys handle the negotiations in the case.

Further, Warwick said the government arranged the meetings through Svelmoe to purposely ensnare Owens.

“Basically, the government has set this up,” Warwick said. “This was done in an attempt to get Pastor Owens. They got him. This was all conducted and orchestrated by the government and, but for the government’s conduct, we wouldn’t be here today.”

Paul Owens, the minister’s son, said after the hearing that he was convinced his father will ultimately be released.

“I just hope the judge will recognize the setup,” he said. “Everything our attorney said was true. It was a bonafide setup.”