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EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A judge called a religious commune leader a blasphemer and a depraved child molester on Friday as he sentenced him to five years in prison for raping and sodomizing the child of a com mune member. Lane County Circuit Judge Edwin Allen said Thomas Paterson Brown would have to serve at least two years before he would become eligible for parole. Brown, 43, the leader of the Christ Brotherhood commune in Eugene, was convicted in December of third-degree rape and third degree sodomy in a September 1981 incident with a 14-year-old girl, in addition, the judge ruled that Brown must serve five years on probation with the condition that he must refrain from any contact with girls under the age of 18. Brown's commune group of about 70 strong lived in Missoula for about one year before leaving last spring for Eugene. “Many have spoken on his (Brown's) behalf,”’ Allen said. ‘‘Now is the time for the court to speak on behalf of those small girls that the defendant has seen fit to molest, sodomize and rape. Allen imposed the sentence after a hearing during which Brown asked the court to set him free to continue his religious work Brown’s attorney, James Strickland, said that Brown's three month stay in the Lane County Jail was a sufficient deterrent. He said Brown's 200d works, such as feeding the hungry, performing music for prisoners and translating Scripture, should be a strong mitigating factor in the sentence. Lane County Assistant District Attorney Joseph Kosydar, however, argued for the five-year prison and probation terms, charging that Brown had sexually abused other children. This incident with the defendant was not limited just to (the vic tim),’’ Kosydar said. ‘‘There were at least three other girls of a very young age (that were sexually abused by Brown).” In imposing the sentence, Allen read to the packed courtroom ex cerpts from a number of letters sent to the court and from a pre-sentence investigation report, which is not a public record. The judge noted several statements in the pre-sentence re port that Brown made in which he explained that he was following Jesus Christ’s example in not re sponding to the charges against him. Brown did not contest the sex charges at his stipulated facts trial, agreeing that the state could prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Brown also indicated in the report that Oregon law doesn’t apply to him because it doesn’t fit his communal lifestyle, the judge said. The judge also quoted statements Brown made in the pre-sentence report that there shouldn’t be an age limit for sexual intercourse and that some believe the Virgin Mary was only 14 when she gave birth to Jesus. ‘Dr. Brown did not stop there,”’ Allen said. The judge said Brown wrote to the court, ‘(The victim) and I are innocently affectionate with each other. I am not being accused of anything which is wrong in God's eyes. Allen said that Brown has had sexual relations with at least four young girls. ‘I have no reservations whatsoever in predicting the defen dant will continue this conduct as soon as and for as long as he can continue to do so,”’ Allen said. “To raise the name of the Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, in connection with this affair is blasphemy,”’ Allen told Brown at the end of his half-hour ruling. The 30 Christ Brotherhood mem bers who packed one side of the courtroom sat motionless as Brown was led from the courtroom. Christ Brotherhood member David Light said afterward that the sentence was God's will, and that the brotherhood would continue its work. Brown is a former philosophy professor at a New York state uni versity. He organized the religious commune in Eugene in the late 1960s and then led its members to New Mexico, Colorado and Missoula before returning to Eugene last spring. He was arrested in October after 14 commune children were tem porarily taken and placed with foster homes.
Newspaper Details
Kalispell Daily Inter Lake
Kalispell, Montana, US
Sun, Mar 14, 1982
Page 15
Full Page
Clipped by
Sophie S.
