Motion filed for release of Texan in Haiti

A motion was filed in a Haitian court on Feb. 10 calling for the immediate release of Jim Allen, the lone Texan on the ministry team of 10 Americans who have been held by Haitian authorities since Jan. 29 on charges of kidnapping and criminal association. Former Haiti minister of justice Louis Gary Lissade was retained on Feb. 8 to represent Allen in Port-au-Prince.

Stateside legal counsel for Allen includes Amarillo attorney Jeff Ritter, attorneys with the Plano-based non-profit Liberty Legal Institute, Amanda Bush with the Jackson and Walker law firm in Fort Worth, and Reginald Brown with WilmerHale in Washington D.C.

Brown said in an interview with the TEXAN that the Feb. 10 motion "should start the process that should eventually get all released."

"We are hopeful the judge will focus on Jim's case," he said.

In a press release issued by the Liberty Legal Institute, Liberty's lead counsel Kelly Shackelford said, "Jim Allen is an upstanding American with a good heart trying to help rebuild a devastated country. We believe that when the facts of this case are revealed, our client will be released.We're working hard to make that happen."

On Feb. 9, with help from the State Department, Allen's attorneys in the United States and Haiti were able to coordinate a phone call between Allen and his wife, Lisa, in Amarillo. It was the first time the couple had communicated since Allen's Jan. 29 arrest. Brown said the conditions in the Port-au-Prince prison are dismal and the physical condition of some of the detainees is poor, but Allen was in good spirits.

Brown called the whole ordeal "a colossal misunderstanding." Allen was on a team bound for Haiti following the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated the capital of Port-au-Prince, killing tens of thousands of people and leaving others injured and homeless. The quake devastated an orphanage on the outskirts of town.

The goal of the humanitarian team, headed by Laura Silsby of Central Valley Baptist Church, Meridian, Idaho was to relocate children from the damaged facility and house them across the border in the Dominican Republic. The second facility had once been a hotel and Allen, who joined the team only 48 hours before their departure, went along to help refurbish the children's new home.

Other members of the humanitarian team are members of East Side Baptist Church, Twin Falls, Idaho and another Baptist church in Topeka, Kan.

"Jim really put a fresh face on the issue," Brown said. He has been frustrated with the media's portrayal of the ministry team as child kidnappers wanting "to steal Haitian babies."

"There is no evidence of child trafficking," he said, adding Lissade would have no part in the case if he suspected otherwise.

Allen's association with the humanitarian team is a poignant example of the true nature of those involved, Brown continued. He said, "Jim's not just a passenger. He's a construction worker, a welder, a small business owner. He put a face on this that others can relate to."

Allen found out about the trip from his cousin, Paul Thompson, a former Amarillo resident and current pastor of the Twin Falls church. Thompson and his 19-year-old son, Silas, are among those being held.

Once Allen found out about the trip, he wanted to go help, said Allen's pastor, Gil Lain. He had 48 hours to receive all the necessary shots and get paperwork in order before flying to Miami to meet up with the others before they departed for Haiti. Allen simply wanted to lend his skills to the mission in hopes of helping the displaced children. Brown, who was raised Southern Baptist, said the general media often does not understand the altruistic nature of such people, calling into question their true motives.

Once the Americans reached Haiti