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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 24, 1981)
Section SANDY, O R EG O N THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24 The S^ndy Post 1981 Area News People Home & Garden Features Man found guilty in ‘Santa Claus’ trial Pictured at left are Ron Zeegers and Anna Carpenter, defense attorneys, and Steve Hodgson, defendant. At right: Dorothy Byrd, IRS representative. Top center: Trudy Brown swears in surprise witness Santa Claus. Center right: Jon Campbell, customs official, and to the right of that, Jenny Trukositz and Chris Bot- cheos. prosecuting attorneys, and in the background, Darcy Bagley. Bottom Center: Tl e jury, from left to right, is Heather Horst, ’ at Ixwderback, Wendy Goodloe, Traci Ander son and Cassandra Olson. On the bottom, from left to right, is Kraig Gifford, bystander, Darcy Bagley, PAA representative, Patsy Wesselink, veterinarian, and Patty Gray, homeowner. Mistaken identity defense fails Kris Kringle was found guilty of trespassing and other charges last week in Clackamas County district court after an emotional final argument by Chris Botcheos, pro secuting atto. ney K ringle ( andy Union High School student Steve Hodgson) was charged with trespassing, cruelty to animals, violation of interstate commerce laws, failure to report with the Internal Revenue Service as a non profit organization and disturbing the peace. Some of the charges might have been dropped, but when Santa Claus himself showed up, and didn’t identify Kringle as a helper, it hurt the defendant's case. Botcheos tried to prove that San ta Claus was guilty of cruelty to animals by entering as evidence two books showing Santa Claus cracking a whip over his reindeers’ heads That evidence was disputed Veterinarian Patsy Wesselink said, “ There’s no evidence of scars on the reindeer from being hit by a whip, and it looks as though they’re well fed ” An elf, Dorothy Byrd, offered te s tim o n y c o n tr a r y lo the discrimination charge, saying that the elves are happy at the North Pole On the disturbing the peace charge Ron Zeegers, defense at torney, also brought out that Kraig Gifford, bystander, was too far away to make a positive identifica tion of the man yelling, “ A M erry Christmas to all and to all a good night." Other testimony was hard to dispute. Patty Gray, homeowner, caught Kringle in the act, witness ing him entering the house through the chimney He got soot on the carpet and ate some cookies, she said. Under cross-examination she ad mitted, however, that she didn’t see Kringle take the cookies An Internal Revenue Service representative (Byrd again) said that Claus had filled out no forms with them, and a representative of the Federal Aviation Adm inistra tion, Darcy Bagley, said that Claus also waf not registered with them. Jon Campbell customs official, said that no forms were filed with th e m , but d u rin g c ro ss- examination admitted that an er ror could have been made. After a five minute recess the defense called a surprise witness, Santa Claus, and tried to claim mistaken identity. Botcheos wouldn’t hear of it. “ He is the c rim in a l," Botcheos said, pointing to Kringle. "H e is not,” he said, pointing to Santa Claus Pointing to Kringle again, he said, “ That man right there was arrested, saying that he was Santa Claus." The five-person ju ry was con vinced, and found Kris Kringle guilty. Judge Bryan Noe asked the defense if they had any final statements. Anna Carpenter, defense at torney, said, “ Naw, what the heck?” With that, Noe sentenced Kringle to 400 years in ja il, with parole available every Dec. 24, and on Jan. 1, for New Year’s Day football games (The tria l was a project of Len Eaton’s street law class.) Story and photos by Scott Newton t
