Pubdate: Wed, 10 Sep 2014
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Adolfo Flores

ATTORNEY CONVICTED IN DRUG SCHEME AGAINST PTA VOLUNTEER

An Irvine attorney was convicted Wednesday of having a PTA volunteer
falsely imprisoned in a drug bust that was part of a revenge scheme.

Kent Easter, 40, was convicted of one felony count of false
imprisonment by deceit in a retrial of the case, the Orange County
district attorney's office said. A judge declared a mistrial in
Easter's first trial in 2013 after jurors reported that they were
deadlocked 11 to 1 in favor of convicting.

During the previous trial prosecutors argued that Easter and his wife
sought revenge because they felt the volunteer did not bring out their
son quickly enough when they came to his grade school to pick him up.

Jill Bjorkholm Easter pleaded guilty to false imprisonment charges
last year and was sentenced to one year in jail and three years of
formal probation.

Kent Easter made a false 911 call in February 2011, saying that he saw
Kelli Peters driving erratically and using drugs, with narcotics in
her car. Officers found a bag of marijuana, pills and a marijuana pipe
in the back seat of Peters' car.

Prosecutors say Easter drove to Peters' home and placed a bag of drugs
and a used marijuana pipe behind the driver's seat.

In the previous trial. Easter's attorney, Thomas Bienert, portrayed
his client as a trusting but weak husband who did whatever his wife
told him to do and was duped into calling police to report that the
PTA volunteer had drugs in her car.

Jill Easter was upset with the after-school volunteer after a 2010
disagreement in which she said Peters did not bring her son out
quickly enough when she went to pick him up at Plaza Vista Elementary,
prosecutors said.

After the incident, the Easters tried to get Peters fired, obtained a
restraining order and filed a lawsuit against the volunteer,
prosecutors said. Their efforts to get back at the volunteer came to a
head with the fake drug bust, authorities said.

The Easters' DNA was found on the pills and pipe, and the volunteer
was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Kent Easter faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison.
His sentencing date will be determined at a hearing in Santa Ana on
Thursday.

Kent Easter has been an active member of the State Bar of California
since 1998. Jill Easter was also admitted to the bar in 1998, but her
license has expired.
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