We greatly appreciate everybody throughout the nation (and beyond!) who is upholding us in prayer during this trial.  We can now see that this is primarily a spiritual battle and the legal battle is just the tip of the iceberg.

As you know, on Monday we sensed God leading us to reject our attorney's recommendation that we accept a plea bargain. Our attorney did not want to represent us anymore, but we refused to release him because the other attorney we were consulting told us we would be fools if we represented ourselves.

We told our attorney about some of the times in the past when our "foolish" actions have brought great glory to God. For example, in 1991 Terri was on trial for a rescue in East Los Angeles. Her pro-life Christian attorney wanted her to accept a plea bargain, so she reluctantly decided to represent herself. She found herself on trial with several other "pro per" defendants. Terri came down with chicken pox during the trial, so she had to come back a month later for a separate trial. By this time she was seven months pregnant. The jail time sought by the prosecutor caused us to contemplate the very real possibility that Terri might give birth to our child in jail. Finally, the prosecutor offered to just give her community service if she would only accept a plea. But Terri was steadfast in her conviction that God wanted her to continue through a jury trial. We could write a book (or at least a few chapters) about how God worked through that trial, but ultimately the jury found her not guilty of trespassing, but guilty of the other charges. When the time came for sentencing, the pro-abortion judge who had severely warned Terri that he would show no compassion to her rejected the prosector's recommendation of jail time. Turning to Terri, the judge said "one day sentenced, one day served. Go home to your family." The next day in a front page story, various jurors told how Terri's trial had touched their hearts. We explained to our attorney how none of this would have happened if Terri had accepted a plea bargain.

Our attorney told us that if we forced him to continue representing us, he would not allow us to be involved in our case in any way. But Terri and I still hoped that he would have a change of heart before Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, a Christian paralegal friend had suggested that he could prepare some motions on our behalf which we could use if we found it necessary to represent ourselves. The paralegal had heard me on Pastor Wiley Drake's radio program on Crusade Radio on Tuesday, and Pastor Wiley told us that this paralegal has been a great help to him. After reviewing our case, the paralegal worked all through Wednesday night and early Thursday morning to prepare our motions. (This paralegal is diabled and on food stamps. We bought a book costing close to $200 to help him prepare our motions, but we have not sent him any money. If you would like to send him a love gift to thank him for helping us, please let us know and we will put you in touch with him.)

Wednesday night we received a call from someone who had received one of our e-mails. She said "I don't usually call people I don't know, but God gave me a word I need to share with you. Now I want you to understand that I believe God wants to encourage you through this word, but I don't understand what it means.  It is Habakkuk 3:5." Opening my Bible, I read the words:

"Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps." (Some versions also use the term "burning coals," which could be significant.)

Now, there are plenty of encouraging verses in Habakkuk, but I wouldn't have considered this to be one of them. About the same time, I received a message from Sue and Fred Rowe of the Kern Region Prayer Watch reminding us that Chuck Pierce had identified June as a time to identify loss structures in our lives, and July was a time to begin to war over the loss.

Moments later, as I was reviewing the events of September 14, 2004, it hit me. On September 14, Terri was miscarrying our baby! Now it was becoming so much more clear that this is a multi-faceted satanic attack against us and our ministry (we were also facing other attacks I won't go into right now).

We received the motions from the paralegal by about 7 am Thursday. But we still didn't know if we would be representing ourselves or if our attorney would continue to represent us.

When we arrived at the courtroom on Thursday morning, it became clear that our attorney had not had a change of heart. As we waited for our case to be called, Terri and I read Psalm 140 and some other scriptures suggested by our intercessors, and we quietly prayed together in the courtroom. We claimed victory over this satanic attack--not only this legal challenge but also the miscarriage Terri suffered at the same time that we were accused of trespassing--and prayed that just as God has brought new life into Terri's womb He would also bring new life into this ministry through this attack. Our tears made it difficult to finish praying, but we sensed God's presence as we prepared to face the judge.

Painfully, we stood before the judge and released ("fired") our dear friend. We told the judge how our attorney had already been through so much trouble and expense on our behalf, but that we believed that in order to present a defense we had to release him.

Then we presented the motion to dismiss which our paralegal friend had prepared on our behalf. The motion to dismiss was based upon the fact that the prosecution did not provide complete discovery to us as required by California Penal Code section 1054 and other laws. Most significantly, they had not provided us with a witness list, which by law must be provided at least 30 days before trial. Judge Robert S. Tafoya acknowledged on the record that we would appeal this case if we were convicted.

The prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Chris Hinkle, finally provided us with a witness list on Thursday morning, but according to the law it is too little, too late. Hinkle responded by saying "you just don't understand how things work in Kern County." Other attorneys have also mentioned the fact that the Kern County "justice" system is very different from other counties, as evidenced by the high conviction rate.

Most of the discussion in court on Thursday involved whether or not we would be able to find another attorney to represent us. But because of the fact that I have refused to waive time past July 11, Judge Tafoya said that no attorney would have time to prepare our case, so it looks like we will be forced to finish the case without an attorney.

Judge Tafoya was ready for the trial to begin yesterday, but as we were discussing this, he received a note which indicated that no jurors were available, so we will go back to court on Tuesday morning at 8:30 am to begin jury selection.

Prosecutor Hinkle also informed us that he will seek to change the charges from 602(o) to 602(m). Hinkle explained that when they wrote up our charges (some 260+ days ago) they were working from an old copy of the law books, so that is why the language used in the complaint comes from 602(p) while the complaint states that we violated 602(o) while they intended to charge us with 602(m). Confused?

But the version of 602(m) Hinkle quoted omitted a key word: "occupying." When I pointed this out to Hinkle, he said "well, we may need to argue about the meaning of the word 'occupy.'" But according to People v. Wilkinson (1967), it was the intent of this law for "occupy" to mean a nontransient, continuous type of possession. Of course, we didn't even step foot on the abortion chamber's property, but if their witness intends to testify that we did so, we should still be found not guilty under the full wording of 602(m).

The plea bargain we were offered on Monday is no longer on the table, according to Hinkle, who explained that he "took it to the top" and that there will be no more offers.

After court on Thursday, I called the other pro-life Christian attorney who has been advising us on this case. He chastised us for continuing the case in pro per, saying "I think you're making a big mistake" (and every other attorney has given us similar advice). I told this attorney that I understood that he is giving us good legal counsel, but that even if this results in a wrongful conviction we believe that this is the path God wants us to take. While I greatly respect this attorney and the other Christian attorneys who seek to help people in our situation, I have been frustrated by the fact that an attorney's responsibility as an officer of the court seems to sometimes prevail over his responsibility to follow God. I don't know how Christian attorneys can serve "two masters" and keep their heads on straight--but I am glad for those who attempt to do so.

Depending upon how the prosecution witnesses testify, we have identified several individuals who either witnessed our actions that day or who would testify that we had permission to walk in the area where we walked. We must provide these witnesses' names to the prosecution today. Please pray that God will protect our witnesses from any harassment or satanic attack. Please also pray that the prosecution witnesses, especially FPA abortion chamber security guard Johnny Stanley, will tell the truth.

Thank you for praying for us, and for those of you who have sent us notes of encouragement or advice. Proverbs 15:22 tells us that in order to succeed, we need to consider the counsel of many. While we greatly value the legal advice we have received (even though after consideration we may sometimes choose a different path), the spiritual counsel we have received, especially from our intercessors, is valued much more highly. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you believe that God is telling you something we need to know.

In Christ's service for those who cannot speak for themselves,

Tim Palmquist

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