New lawyer in Haiti case: Missionaries acted with 'heart'

clipped from www.usatoday.com PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Newly appointed lawyers for the U.S. missionaries accused of child trafficking emerged from a court hearing Monday and said their clients violated no laws when they tried to rescue 33 Haitian children.. "The Americans acted with heart," lawyer Aviol Fleurant said outside a courthouse in the capital. "They had no intention to violate the Haitian law." Fleurant said the missionaries "have a document" authorizing them to take the children, and he predicted their exoneration. Fleurant and another lawyer were appointed Monday to represent Laura Silsby and nine volunteers, most from a Baptist church in Idaho, after their original lawyer was fired last weekend over an allegation of bribery. "I am trusting God to reveal all truth and that we will be released and exonerated of charges, and we are just waiting for the Haitian process, legal process, to complete," she told a throng of reporters as she was led away to a police van.

Related articles by Zemanta

• In Haiti, Americans' attorney says they had papers (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Haitian 'lasts 28 days in rubble' (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Haitian lawyer for U.S. missionaries fired (cbc.ca)
• Haiti Missionaries Charged With Child Kidnap (news.sky.com)