Attorney Convicted of False Imprisonment for Planting Drugs in School Volunteer's Car

Originally posted at 4:21 p.m. Sept. 10, 2014. Edited with new details.

By PAUL ANDERSON
City News Service

An Irvine attorney who helped plant drugs in the PT Cruiser of a school volunteer because of a perceived insult to his son was convicted today of false imprisonment by fraud and deceit.

It was the second trial for Kent Easter, who faces up to three years in prison. Another jury last November deadlocked 11-1 in favor of convicting him, forcing a mistrial. Jurors this time around deliberated about an hour before returning a verdict.

His wife pleaded guilty last year to false imprisonment for her role in the smear attack and was sentenced to 120 days in jail and 100 hours of community service. She was released from jail earlier this year after completing her sentence and had her law license suspended in March.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals ordered Easter back to court Thursday afternoon to set a sentencing date. Goethals was inclined to have the defendant handcuffed and sent to jail today, but he asked for more time to make arrangements for the care and custody of his three children, ages 7, 8, and 11.

Goethals questioned why Easter had not made arrangements prior to today, considering the first jury nearly convicted him. Easter, 40, and his attorney argued that his 41-year-old estranged wife was “spiraling down” emotionally.

The couple are in the midst of a divorce. Kent Easter is living in Newport Beach while Jill Easter lives with their children in their Irvine home, according to defense attorney Thomas Bienert Jr.

Kent Easter indicated the children’s grandparents could look after the kids while the defendant was behind bars, but Goethals questioned how eager Jill Easter would be to go along with that arrangement. The judge ultimately decided to give Easter a day to make arrangements for the children.

The jury foreman said the panel was convinced by phone records that showed the defendant’s cell phone was used near the victim’s home the night the drugs were planted in her car. The jury did not believe the defendant’s claim that his wife was using his phone that night, the foreman said.

Prosecutor Christopher Duff said in his closing argument that even if the defendant did not personally plant the marijuana pipe, Vicodin and Percocet in school volunteer Kelli Peters’ car on Feb. 16, 2011, he was still guilty of false imprisonment because it was his call to police that led to her detention and questioning.

“He called police knowing these drugs were planted in the car,” Duff said. “He knew Kelli Peters didn’t put those drugs in the car. His role in the crime is complete when he makes that call to police.”

Easter’s attorney claimed that his client was an unwitting dupe of a conspiratorial, pushy wife, and downplayed the detention of the victim, as Irvine police realized within minutes the volunteer was being set up.

Duff said the Easters’ vendetta against Peters started in February 2010 when Jill Easter picked up her then-5-year-old son after classes at Plaza Vista School in Irvine. It took a few minutes to find the boy, who was a little dirty and crying when he was found but was otherwise OK, Duff said.

Jill Easter grew enraged when Peters said the boy was “slow,” meaning he lagged when it was time to line up with the other children, Duff said. Jill Easter took the comment as an insult to her son’s intelligence, Duff said.

The couple wrote a letter demanding Peters’ dismissal, filed for a restraining order against her, and then tried to file a complaint with police for false imprisonment, Duff said. They also tried to sue Peters, but she was not served with papers and the case was withdrawn.

Kent Easter admitted he called Irvine police and gave them a fake Indian name after he alerted authorities that Peters was seen driving to the school erratically and had pills in her car. Duff alleged that Easter even affected an Indian accent.

Easter testified that he did not know his wife had planted the drugs in the victim’s car. He only made the call from the Island Hotel across the street from his law firm’s office to get his pushy wife off his back, according to his attorney.

Easter admitted in testimony that he lied to Irvine police when first questioned about the drug-planting.

“I began to think this was something my wife had done and I didn’t want to incriminate her,” he said, adding that he made the call to police because “I just know how awful she can be.”

“It’s embarrassing, foolish, not something I’m proud of,” he testified.

To explain why phone records appeared to put him near the home of the victim on the night the drugs were planted, the defendant claimed his wife took his phone because hers was not working.

Duff hammered Easter during cross-examination on why he did not check the phone his wife left behind in their home since he suspected she was having an affair at the time.

“I still hadn’t decided how I was going to deal with this,” he testified.

Duff told jurors that phone records showed Jill and Kent Easter’s cell phones were both used near the home of the victim in her gated community, indicating the couple worked together, with the defendant’s wife acting as a “lookout.”