Legal News

Haiti Legal Drama Ramps Down as Eight U.S. Missionaries Freed

By Amir Efrati

Accounts of the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake have been heart-wrenching. In addition to the countless deaths and millions of homeless residents, you probably also heard about a gripping legal drama involving Haitian children, American missionaries and, at one time, allegations of kidnapping.

Now it appears the saga is nearing an end. Eight of the 10 American missionaries who were detained for trying to take Haitian children out of the country were set free on Wednesday, but a judicial magistrate in the case kept in jail the group’s leader, Idaho Internet entrepreneur Laura Silsby (pictured) and her colleague, Charisa Coulter. Here are stories from WSJ and NYT. WSJ background on the three-week-old case can be found here, here and here.

According to WSJ, the Americans were arrested Jan. 29 on the border of the Dominican Republic with a busload of 33 children. They were investigated on charges of child abduction and conspiracy, sparking anger and suspicion among Haitians. But the charges apparently melted thanks to court testimony from the children’s parents, who said they willingly turned them over to the missionaries. The missionaries have said they were following a Christian call to help victims of the earthquake.

Two lawyers for the detained Americans, after meeting with Bernard Saint-Vil, a Haitian magistrate, said Wednesday afternoon that he had ordered their release. The charges weren’t formally dropped but “the fact that there were no conditions or bail is a great indication that the charges will be dropped,” said Gary Lissade, a former justice minister of Haiti and a lawyer for one of the Americans,.

Silsby and Coulter are still being held because, unlike the others, they made a previous trip to Haiti in December during which they apparently visited a Haitian orphanage. “I want to know why she came and what she did at this orphanage,” the magistrate said earlier this week.

A bizarre element of the case involves Jorge Puello, a man who presented himself as a lawyer for the missionaries but who is actually a fugitive wanted by El Salvador on charges of child trafficking and by the U.S. on a variety of charges including immigrant smuggling. (Background on Puello is here.)

The magistrate judge said he wanted to ask Silsby when she met Puello. Silsby’s lawyer previously said she didn’t meet Puello before she was arrested.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 18, 2010 (boomark / email).