Crux of Defense Is Voided in Abduction From Sect

A Superior Court judge, preparing for next month’s trial of five people accused of kidnaping a 23-year-old woman who the defendants claim was in the grip of a religious cult, has struck down the legal arguments that were to be the heart of the defense case.

Judge David B. Moon Jr. ruled Wednesday in pretrial motions that attorneys, including those representing the parents and an older sister of Ginger Brown, cannot argue that the defendants tried to rescue Brown for her own safety.

Nor will the defense attorneys be able to use the words “cult” or “thought control” during the trial, which is scheduled to begin with jury selection Nov. 6 in Vista Superior Court.

Moon, saying he doesn’t want the trial to be a philosophical battleground for religious freedom, ruled that the defense team had not shown proof that Brown, a member of Great Among the Nations, had lost her free will by joining the small group, which now has its headquarters in Coronado.

The defense attorneys said they will appeal Moon’s decision because it essentially guts their defense of Brown’s parents, Earle and Dorothy Brown of Santa Cruz; her sister, Holly Brown; Clifford Daniels, a Los Angeles deprogrammer, and Hank Erler, in whose Escondido home Brown was allegedly held against her will for five days in May, 1988, as they tried to get her to renounce her allegiance to the group.

The defense had hoped to show that the kidnaping of Ginger Brown was motivated by her parent’s concern for her well-being and that it was less evil than her continued alliance with the religious organization.

But Moon said the elder Browns had not sought alternative, legal avenues to remove their daughter from the group before they forcibly snatched her.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary Rempel said Moon’s ruling will allow for a straightforward prosecution of a kidnaping case. Dorothy Brown’s attorney, John Patterson, told Moon that, given his ruling, his client essentially has no defense.