The arraignment of Kent Wycliffe Easter and Jillianne Bjorkholm Easter, who are accused of planting drugs in a school volunteer's car, was delayed today because of a “healthcare emergency” that left the husband “unable to speak,” according to his lawyer.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Walter Schwarm in Santa Ana postponed the arraignment for another month.
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Kent Easter is a 38-year-old UCLA graduate listed online as working for Yocca
Carlson & Rauth Attorneys of Newport Beach, while his wife, also 38, is a UC Berkeley grad who let her
State Bar of California license expire.
The Irvine residents were each represented in court today by separate counsel.
Each could get three years in prison if convicted of trying to pull of a bizarre plot the afternoon of Feb. 16, 2011, to discredit a Plaza Vista School volunteer who had mildly disciplined their son a year earlier. The Easters later tried unsuccessfully to sue Kelli Peters in 2010 over the incident.
Peters is now returning the favor, suing the Easters for allegedly bringing fear, panic and anxiety to her and her family with the drug plant. Her suit seeks unspecified damages “for intentional and negligent
infliction of
emotional distress and false imprisonment.”
Kent Wycliffe Easter and Jillianne Bjorkholm Easter Sued by Terrified School Volunteer
In the criminal case, the Easters face one
felony count each of conspiracy to procure the false arrest and charging
of Jane Doe [Peters] and false imprisonment and conspiracy to falsely report a
crime, according to the Orange County District Attorney's office.
Other than saying Kent Easter can't speak at the moment, his attorney Thomas Bienert shed no light in court today on the nature of his client's medical emergency.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.