November 4, 2003

United States Attorney

Karin Immergut

US Attorney’s Office

1000 SW 3^rd Ave., Suite 600

Portland, OR 97204-2024

Judge Michael Mossman

1000 SW 3rd Ave., Suite 1400

Portland, OR 97204-2024

Re: BONSHEÁ - Making Light of the Dark

by Coral Anika Theill

Dear United States Attorney Immergut and Judge Mossman:

I need your help.

I recently read an article entitled, "Domestic Violence: When Terrorism Really Hits Home," by Virginia Henderson in the Dallas Itemizer Observer, Dallas, Oregon:

"The most serious threat to our national security is right here at home. Michael Mossman,

US Attorney for the District of Oregon believes that. He dedicated himself to eliminating

domestic violence. Breaking the cycle of power and control that fuels domestic violence stays

his No. 1 priority. He reiterated this to a collection of prosecutors, law enforcement officers,

judges, advocates and others at a conference in Portland in June."

My name is Coral Anika Theill. I was a resident in Oregon from 1976 to 1998. In 1998 I moved out of state, per the recommendation of my physicians and counselors, to live in hiding and safety. For several years, I have lived under the Washington Secretary of State's Address Confidentiality Program.

I have a personal story to tell of twenty years of marital abuse, both mental and physical, condoned within some of the fundamental, evangelical Christian movements (cults) that thrive today. My story is also about injustice, the failing of the Oregon court system, and the stigma associated with mental illness. In 1999, I began writing my true-life story, BONSHEA – Making Light of the Dark, to help raise the awareness of domestic violence and judicial injustice in Oregon and throughout the U.S.A.

In 1995, after the birth of my eighth child, I went to the judicial system for help and was not prepared for the horrors I experienced within our legal system. I found a system that treated me as deplorably as my former husband and his religious supporters. I have extensive documentation, including affidavits, court transcripts, tapes, and videos, medical and mental reports, and witnesses to substantiate and elaborate on this story. I believe that when this case comes to light, someone will have to answer for the abuse and silent violence I have suffered in the Polk, Marion, and Wasco County courts. Marital and ritual abuse evolved into legal abuse.

On March 10, 1997, I was forced by an Order of the Court, and by my ex-husband, his attorney, his family and religious supporters, to do something that raged against my good conscience, my common sense and against all my motherly instincts. After a temporary custody hearing, a Court Order signed by Judge Albin Norblad forcibly removed my nursing baby and two youngest children from me. I obeyed the Court Order and gave my children over to my ex-husband. I drove to the hospital, rented a breast-pump and later collapsed and went into shock. I could not understand what had happened and why. I have not yet recovered from the shock, perhaps I never will.

It is reported that women prisoners are allowed to keep their babies with them for eighteen months while serving their sentences (Florida Statute 944.24). I am haunted by this single question. Why was I treated lower than a criminal by Oregon's judicial law system? I was a faithful wife and mother for almost twenty years. Presently, I have fewer rights than a criminal in America and I have no criminal record and have no history of alcohol, drug or child abuse.

Since December 1995, I have spent a total of approximately twenty-three days in court, and underwent twelve hours of psychological exams. I participated in approximately thirty-five hours of depositions that were oppressive, mentally abusive and cruel. I have written hundreds of letters seeking help. Presently, no one seems to have the ability or the authority to help me become truly emancipated from my former husband, Mr. V. Martin Warner. I have lost hope of ever seeing my children. I desire a life free from legal harassment in Oregon's courts. If someone does not stop the onslaught of court trauma that I must face, I may lose my will to live.

Presently, my ex-husband and his attorney, Mr. Daniel Van Eaton of Salem, Oregon, have initiated legal proceedings against me. My ex-husband is a wealthy engineer who works for Clair Company in Corvallis, Oregon. He owns a large debt free estate in Independence, Oregon. I am presently destitute from years of ongoing court trauma, health problems and unemployment. My health is frail from years of abuse.

After surviving years of marital abuse and neglect, I suffered a mental/nervous breakdown in 1993-1995, (during which time I was impregnated twice by my ex-husband). My doctors have diagnosed me with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I still suffer from night terrors. The memory of being forced to give up my children is a continual torment to my body, mind and soul. Time has helped me find peace in the pain.

The price I had to pay for my safety and freedom was an imposed, unnatural and unwanted separation from my children. It's a choice that no woman should ever be forced to make, and a price no mother should ever be forced to pay for the sake of her own safety.

Whenever the custodial parent practices control and manipulation tactics in order to separate child from mother, justice cannot be served. This is the lowest and most hateful form of spousal revenge. As long as mothers are unfairly separated from their children and those who hold the power fail to acknowledge and support the rights of non-custodial parents, justice cannot be achieved.

There are Oregon State laws that provide protection for me, but prosecutors refused to uphold the law. I want someone outside of Polk, Marion and Wasco Counties to investigate this case and right some wrongs. I want my ex-husband's attorney, Mr. J. Mark Lawrence, to be officially reprimanded for mentally abusing me in court proceedings and in depositions. I want my ex-husband, Mr. V. Martin Warner, held accountable for the crimes (marital rape) committed against me. (Chapter 743, Oregon Laws 1971, 163.375.) I want an end to the legal harassment, false accusations, threats and court orders by my ex-husband and his attorney. I want all judgments against me dismissed and child support orders terminated and monies Mr. Warner received from me reimbursed. I find it unconscionable, while I am virtually homeless, to be paying my abuser/attacker support!

I want a guardian ad litem to be appointed to my four minor children who still live with my ex-husband. My children need professional help.

My physicians have stated that my case is one of Oregon's most violent and obscene domestic violence cases they have been involved in their twenty-five years of psychiatric practice. Dr. Barbara May, Professor of Nursing, has been involved in my case since 1997 and has served as my mentor and counselor. She is willing to speak with you should you have questions. Dr. Charles Kuttner, who has been involved in this case since 1993 can also be reached for comment.

Chief Deputy District Attorney John Haroldson of Benton County, Corvallis, Oregon, read BONSHEA and has endorsed it as a book that exposes religious abuse and judicial injustice in our society. Hundreds of people all over the USA and in parts of Europe have read BONSHEA - Making Light of the Dark. People are shocked and appalled by this case. The kind of violence, abuse and suppression perpetrated by so many of our organized religions and government agencies is truly shocking and can only continue by our refusal to look AT IT rather than the OTHER WAY.

Recently, I contacted all Oregon State Senators and Representatives. Oregon State Vic Backlund wrote me a kind letter stating his concerns about domestic violence in our society. He requested a copy of my book. I have been keeping him informed as to the latest developments in my case. A Polk County Clerk informed me that all Polk County Judges have removed themselves from my case. Judge Paula Brownhill will be presiding judge.

To assist you in understanding the summary of my divorce case in Oregon, this is my story:

"After surviving years of marital abuse and neglect, a woman suffers a mental/nervous breakdown. She becomes pregnant while in a near catatonic state. Toward the final stages of her pregnancy, she recovers from her breakdown. Although her body is frail, she is healthy emotionally. She births her baby. Baby and mother enjoy bonding and breastfeeding. The mother cherishes her newborn son. After undergoing several psychiatric tests and evaluations, her physicians state that she is well.

"Her abuser, (the father of the child), manipulates the judicial system and seeks custody of the baby. With the help of the religious community and the mother's prior mental history, the court awards the father custody of the nursing infant. The mother is ordered to pay her attacker/abuser child support, is sued for his attorney fees and no longer is allowed contact with her child. The baby is abruptly removed from the mother. The mother goes into shock. The "father of the child" has committed a crime against the mother but is embraced and rewarded in our "judicial and religious system." The victim becomes the criminal. The woman is me, the father of the child is my ex-husband.

I have enclosed a complimentary copy of BONSHEA - Making Light of the Dark for your review. I have also included a summary of my life story and book entitled, "Treatment of: BONSHEA - Making Light of the Dark." I won a "Writer's Award" in November 2002. The National Domestic Violence Resource Center in Pennsylvania previewed BONSHEA and is recommending it as a survivor story. BONSHEA is dedicated to my eight children and to all those who have survived or are suffering personal crisis.

Dr. Barbara May and Dr. Charles Kuttner can be reached at:

Dr. Barbara May, Dr. Charles Kuttner

Linfield College V.A. Medical Clinic

Portland, Oregon Portland, Oregon

(503) 413-8096 (503) 220-8262 Ext. 52562

bmay@linfield.edu ckuttner@jhu.edu

Domestic violence has been cited as the major health care problem in the United States affecting more individuals and families than any other single health care problem (former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.) In 1999, Governor Kitzhaber reported that domestic violence is at epidemic proportions in Oregon. BONSHEA is a response to these tragic statistics. This country will never experience liberty until all citizens are free and safe.

I believe my human rights were violated by specific people, my husband and his attorneys, my attorneys who did nothing to halt the humiliation I experienced in Court, the judges who allowed the process to continue and supported the frivolous and unwarranted claims Mr. Warner made, his onslaught of court orders to try to force me to return to maintain his control on my life, and the religious community that was so blinded by an abhorrence of divorce that they closed their eyes and their hearts to the truth.

It is time for a champion who will advocate for women and help right some of these wrongs before others must endure this kind of destruction. I believe I have fallen through the cracks of America's judicial system. A woman's first scream is for help, her second scream is for justice.

“A culture that requires harm to one’s soul in order to follow the culture’s proscriptions is a very sick culture indeed.” –Dr. Clarissa Estes

Respectfully,

Coral Anika Theill

cc: Governor Ted Kulongoski

Governor Gary Locke

Dr. Barbara May

Dr. Charles Kuttner

Oregon State Representative Vic Backlund

Washington State Senator Harriet Spanel