Jury Sees Tape of Brown After Deprogramming : Courts: Defense lawyers in the kidnaping case attempt to show that the alleged victim was laughing about her parents’ deprogramming attempt, and not mentally shaken as she insists.

Defense attorneys, trying to impeach Ginger Brown’s testimony that she was terrorized and feared for her life during a five-day deprogramming attempt last year, showed a videotape Monday of the woman giggling, laughing and joking about the experience hours after she was released by her parents.

The video was taped by fellow members of Great Among the Nations, who had a practice of taping virtually every one of their group meetings and who taped Brown as she talked to the group about her experience.

Brown was ordered to turn over about 20 hours of tapes to defense lawyers two weeks ago. Excerpts were shown to the jury Monday, with the defense hoping her comments and general demeanor would belie her characterization to jurors of the deprogramming effort, in which she said she was beaten and verbally abused.

Although the audio was of poor quality, Brown could be heard laughing about the ordeal and talking about how she coped during the five days, partly by recalling old jokes between her and her friends about deprogrammers.

That scene brought a smile to Ginger Brown as she sat on the witness stand, watching the video monitor.

The tape also showed the group’s leader, Benjamin Altschul, encouraging Brown to seek the prosecution of her parents and others involved in the abduction.

“I want you to prosecute,” Altschul said to Brown. “I’ll be very disappointed if you don’t. What is your intent?”

“To prosecute everybody, totally,” Brown answered Altschul.

Altschul then emphasized the need to get publicity about the bruises Brown said she suffered during her capture from an Encinitas parking lot and later during the deprogramming effort in Escondido.

“Every bruise will go on TV,” Altschul said. “Every bruise. We need to take pictures of these bruises and put them on TV. The public needs to know.”

The next scene showed Altschul saying, “I want $100,000 for this,” apparently alluding to the prospect of a civil lawsuit against Ginger Brown’s parents and others. Such a lawsuit was later filed.

And, in comments that were contrary to her own courtroom testimony Monday, Brown said on the tape that her abductors made her the offer of spending six months at a home in the San Francisco area where she could rest and “do research.”

Brown had testified early Monday that, while she was held captive, she was given only two options: to disavow her allegiance to Great Among the Nations or to be admitted to a psychiatric facility near San Francisco for a six-month stay.

Prosecutor Gary Rempel objected to the showing of the video excerpts, complaining that they were out of context and, as a result, could not be used to impeach the testimony of Brown, who is the chief witness against the five defendants: her parents, Earle and Dorothy Brown; her sister, Holly Brown; Hank Erler, at whose mother’s home the deprogramming effort transpired, and Cliff Daniels, a self-described cult deprogrammer.

Superior Court Judge David B. Moon Jr. told the jury to disregard some parts of the tape--including Altschul’s mention of $100,000, and a reference by Brown that she found Erler attractive.

Herb Weston, Holly Brown’s attorney, who introduced the tape after it was surrendered by Brown 10 days ago for review by defense attorneys, said the tapes showed Ginger Brown mocking the deprogramming effort.

“It’s not so important what she said, but, by the laughing, the whole thing was a joke to her,” he said outside the courtroom. “The jury is not getting the whole story.”

During his cross-examination of Brown, Weston asked her why she didn’t call 911 for police when she had access to a telephone. Brown said she believed the phone that she hid under her bed was a cellular phone and that police would only be able to track it to Los Angeles. Only now, in court, did she realize it was a cordless home phone, Brown said.