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

Kent Easter isn't the only attorney who thinks he's above the law, but he takes the concept to a new extreme of pettiness and irrationality.

Attorney Convicted of False Imprisonment for Planting Drugs in School Volunteer's Car
By deceiving police, Kent Easter caused Kelli Peters to be detained and questioned, a prosecutor said. Peters had insulted Easter's son.
By PAUL ANDERSON City News Service
Updated by By Penny Arévalo (Patch Staff)
September 10, 2014

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....

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...

See more details HERE.

Los Angeles doctor runs down pedestrian, then gets him arrested

Author Steve Bevilacqua

Doctor causes harm, then lies about it to escape blame. Haven't I heard this before?

"...road rage lunatic who happened to be a doctor...The driver also pulled the gender card and claimed that her actions were justified because she was "very afraid" of me, despite the fact that she was in a car and I was on my ass in the street."

Book: A Layman's Handbook for Those Falsely Accused of Felonies
Man Run Over By Doctor Faced Lengthy Prison Sentence & Was Then Redeemed On National TV By Judge Judy
Ryan McCormick
Nov 19, 2013

One day Steve Bevilacqua was hit by a car crossing the street and almost went to prison for it. The driver who ran him down was charged with nothing, and Steve spent months in court fighting mandatory prison sentences for imaginary crimes. His book "KAFKA AT THE BEACH: A Layman's Handbook for Those Falsely Accused of Felonies" offers a firsthand account of being on the wrong end of America's justice system.

In KAFKA AT THE BEACH Steve Bevilacqua reveals:

How & why he was facing an 18-month mandatory prison sentence for assault, battery, and strong-armed robbery against the woman who ran him over with her car - crimes he did not commit.

How after he was run over, the driver cursed him, got out of her car, and then attempted to physically assault him.

A corrupt LAPD detective adds more false charges to Steve's existing ones.

In court, Steve meet the alcoholic city attorney who, chomping on pretzels and nursing a hangover, keeps confusing his case with others and becomes hellbent on sending Steve to prison for two years.

Redemption: TV's Judge Judy ruled in Steve's favor as he was suing the driver for cost incurred of her making deliberate false statements.



Santa Monica courthouse

"In the bizarre totalitarian odyssey that devoured a year of my life. I fought off a ferocious campaign to put me in prison, experienced the joys of bankruptcy, and struggled through an absurd maze of court-ordered therapy. However, I ultimately triumphed, achieving vindication on national television at the hands of the snarling modern-day Solomon known as Judge Judy." Steve Bevilacqua

Lights, Camera, Justice: If Only the Los Angeles Court System Were More Like Judge Judy
Steve Bevilacqua
Huff Post
07/31/2013

I was run down by a car while crossing the street, and almost went to prison for it, thanks to our local court system. Granted, what happened to me was an extreme incident, propelled by a road rage lunatic who happened to be a doctor yet should never have been listened to by anyone. The driver also pulled the gender card and claimed that her actions were justified because she was "very afraid" of me, despite the fact that she was in a car and I was on my ass in the street. But what transpired for the next 8 months in our city's court system was a totalitarian nightmare straight out of Kafka's The Trial.

Hundreds of hours, thousands of dollars, and one surreal stint in court-ordered therapy later, I was ravaged but free. Then this legal deathmarch was to play itself out again, on television. Amazingly enough, in one extremely loud afternoon, my fiasco was set right by the modern-day Solomon known as Judge Judy. The actual court system spent months squeezing every technicality in their agonized efforts to send me to prison at the expense of the obvious truth. Judge Judy was direct and ferociously sensible...

During my months in court, I endured City Attorneys defending a driver's right to run down a pedestrian with her car, while refusing to charge her with anything. The driver even admitted giving the finger to the downed pedestrian as she fled the scene, yet she didn't even receive a traffic ticket...

I have yet to see an argument based on some pigshit technicality succeed on Judge Judy while, in real courts, it seems to happen as often as not...