Christoff Yurievich
Member
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20091205/NEWS/912050330/1001
My mouth is agape.Oleksandr and Lyudmila Kozlov were arrested Friday after a jury found them guilty of abusing three of their children with wires, cords, belts and sticks.
"We believe, even if we receive some punishment, God will deliver us," Lyudmila Kozlova said in her testimony.
The Kozlovs waved to more than 100 supporters packed into the courtroom as they were escorted out by Marion County sheriff's deputies.
They still carried their Bibles.
Oleksandr, 41, and Lyudmila, 39, each were convicted on nine counts of criminal mistreatment for the abuse of their three oldest children.
Circuit Judge Thomas Hart acquitted Lyudmila Kozlova of one of the original 10 charges before the case went to the jury, saying the prosecution had not presented enough evidence to justify the charge.
The jury couldn't decide on the 10th charge for Oleksandr Kozlov, and Hart declared a mistrial. He could be retried on that charge if the prosecution wishes.
The Kozlovs will appeal the decision, Lyudmila Kozlova said.
Hart ordered the couple's infant daughter be taken into the custody of the Department of Human Services and placed with the couple's other six children. He ordered the Kozlovs held in jail until sentencing, which is set for 8:45 a.m. Thursday.
The Kozlovs' tearful supporters sang in Russian as they filed out of the Marion County courtroom.
Once outside the courthouse, they lifted the infant girl above their heads and took pictures while they prayed, sang and cried for the Kozlov family.
The couple relied on their faith throughout the four-day trial and represented themselves, citing God as their attorney.
Lyudmila Kozlova read a Bible as Deputy District Attorney Nicole Theobald delivered the prosecution's closing argument Friday evening and asked the jury to find the defendants guilty on all counts.
"This isn't about the defendants' religion," she said. "It is not about whether they love their kids."
All of the Kozlov children, with the exception of their infant daughter, testified during trial. Some said their parents repeatedly doled out "hard spankings" that left marks that lasted a week and made their 14-year-old brother miss school out of fear the marks may have been discovered.
"You heard from the older kids, this happened all the time," Theobald said. "We all know what punishment means in their home."
They were hit with wires, cords, spoons, sticks, belts and their parents' hands, the children testified. At times, they heard each other being punished.
Taking the witness stand for their testimony this week was the first time they'd seen their parents in four months.
The case began July 20 when the three oldest children called 911 from a pay phone in northeast Salem and told authorities that their parents spanked them.
Marion County Deputy Jerry Wollenschlaeger was dispatched on that call and found that the children had injuries red lines and loop marks on their arms, backs, legs and buttocks that required they be immediately removed from their home for their own safety.
All seven children were taken into protective custody. Their parents were arrested the next day.
Prosecutors called violence a standard at the Kozlov home in northeast Salem.
A deacon at their church testified that he wouldn't have called police if had he seen marks on the Kozlov children like those in pictures submitted as evidence by the prosecution, even if it meant he faced time in jail for not reporting it.
The prosecution rested its case Friday morning. The defendants presented five witnesses who testified they'd never seen marks on the children.
Svetlana Ozerova said she'd known the couple from church since they came to the United States from Ukraine in 2003.
The Kozlovs attend Evangelical Christian Baptist Church of Salem in Dallas.
"I've never seen any marks, scrapes or bruised knees on the children," Ozerova said. "Lyudmila has always asked our prayer group because her older children were disobedient."
Ozerova said Kozlova was a caring mother who kept her children clean and well-dressed.
In their closing arguments, the Kozlovs cited their religion as the reason for their actions. They each took the stand to testify in their own defense.
They read several Bible verses to the jury, and Kozlova compared their situation to that of Daniel in the Bible.
"He wasn't afraid of the king's decree" to worship only the king and not God, earning persecution and risking death, Kozlova said.
"Our law is the Bible which is above all law," she said. The Kozlovs punished their children according Scripture, they said.
"If we were not fulfilling this, we would have answered before God," Kozlova said.
When Oleksandr Kozlov was on the stand, he asked the jury to strengthen the institution of family instead of tear it apart.
"I'd like to say that I love my children," Kozlov said. "And me and my wife wanted to do everything for them; everything for their good and what we could, we did."
While being questioned by prosecutor Courtland Geyer, Kozlov denied abusing his children.
"Isn't it true that when (your son) was suspended, you beat him so severely he couldn't return to school for nine calendar days?" Geyer asked.
"That didn't happen," Kozlov said.
Geyer then presented the boy's attendance records to the court.
The Statesman Journal does not name children who are victims of crimes.
"It is very hard to live through this," Kozlov said in his closing argument.
The Kozlovs said all they wanted was to be together with their children.
"Our punishments were a way of discipline," Kozlova said. "You are portraying us as if we were mistreating our children. That is not fair. This is why we ask you to pass a right judgment and return our children."
Kozlova said the religious community would continue protesting the jury's decision until they found justice.
She said the Kozlovs do not hold grudges and blessed all those who persecuted the couple, including prosecutors, law enforcement, the judge and Department of Human Services workers.
"My husband and I and all our brothers and sisters in faith, we bless you," Kozlova said. "We ask God to have mercy on our children."