Timothy Stoen
Timothy Oliver Stoen (born January 16, 1938) is an American attorney best known for his central role as a member of the Peoples Temple, and as an opponent of the group during a multi-year custody battle over his six-year-old son, John.
[3] In 1970, Stoen married Grace Lucy Grech, whom he had met at a march at the San Francisco Civic Center against overpopulation and pollution.
[7] Stoen first encountered the Peoples Temple when it was suggested that he ask the group to help renovate the Mendocino County legal aid offices.
[3] By the end of 1969, when violence erupted in Berkeley over People's Park and Third World students' rights, Stoen began to integrate his personal life with the Temple.
[9] In 1970, Stoen moved to the Temple's headquarters, where he worked as a deputy district attorney and head of Mendocino County's civil division.
"[14] Stoen later claimed that he was not aware at the time of election fraud, despite being in charge of the special unit investigating that specific crime, but that it could have happened without his knowledge because, "Jim Jones kept a lot of things from me.
"[14] On February 6, 1972, just two weeks after his son John was born, Stoen signed an affidavit in which he stated that Jones was the child's biological father.
"[13] In the years to follow, Jones would cite the affidavit countless times to demonstrate his paternity of the child, to denigrate Grace's worthiness to be a mother, and to dismiss Stoen's claims of custody rights.
[18] Stoen quit his job as assistant district attorney and began working in Guyana, both at Jonestown and at the Temple's headquarters in the capital of Georgetown.
[24] In fear of being held in contempt of the court orders, and in an attempt to further manipulate his followers, Jones staged a false sniper attack on himself and began a series of "White Night" rallies, called the "Six Day Siege", where he told Temple members about attacks from outsiders and had members surround Jonestown with guns and machetes.
"[27] Guyanese Deputy Prime Minister Ptolemy Reid finally assured Jones' wife Marceline that Guyana Defence Force would not invade Jonestown.
[28] A court clerk refused to sign the arrest warrant for Jones, and there was talk of interference in the legal process by the Guyanese government.
[29] After this initial round of the Stoen custody dispute, Jones directed Temple members to write to over a dozen foreign governments inquiring about their immigration policies in the event that they had to flee Guyana.
[31] Temple surveillance teams, aware of these meetings, checked licence plates in front of Mills' house to determine the identity of their "enemies.
"[31] Stoen's addition to the group was vital because of his knowledge of Temple operations, his letter-writing campaigns to the Secretary of State and the Guyanese government, and his trips to Washington, D.C. to lobby for a federal investigation.
[8] Stoen became the Concerned Relatives' primary legal representative and filed four court actions against the Temple and its leadership on November 18, 1978, on the group's behalf.
[36] Feeling the international pressure, on February 17, 1978, Jones submitted to an interview with reporter Tim Reiterman of the San Francisco Examiner via radio-telephone.
[38] Reiterman's story about the Stoen custody battle, appearing in the Examiner's February 18 preview edition of that Sunday's paper,[39] undermined Jones' credibility.
[39] Temple attorneys immediately sent a letter to the Examiner threatening litigation,[39] as well as the 1972 affidavit which named Jones as the father of Stoen's son.
[40] The next day, February 19, Harvey Milk, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, wrote a letter to U.S. President Jimmy Carter supporting Jones.
Jones is widely known in the minority communities and elsewhere as a man of the highest character...[41] Timothy and Grace Stoen [are] the parties attempting to damage Rev.
"[41] On March 14, 1978, Temple member Pam Moten sent an open letter to Congress suggesting that members of the Concerned Relatives group were conspiring with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) against the group,[48] stating that "radical Trotskyite elements which defected from our organization when we refused to follow their violent course have been orchestrating a campaign against us.
"[48] On April 11, the Concerned Relatives distributed a packet of documents, including letters and affidavits that they titled an "Accusation of Human Rights Violations by Rev.
[49] The accusations chronicled mistreatment in Jonestown, which it portrayed as an armed encampment, and described hard labor, passport confiscation and statements about Jones' speeches speaking of suicide and conspiracies against the Temple.
[49] On May 10, the Temple retorted with their own "Open Statement" alleging the Concerned Relatives were part of a massive conspiracy and attacking the "so called Free Enterprise system" and "racist ... corporate power.
"[50] In June 1978, Deborah Layton and her attorney drafted a further affidavit detailing alleged crimes by the Temple and substandard living conditions in Jonestown.
If I put John's life above others, I wouldn't be standing with Ujara [nickname of Don Sly, a Temple member who attempted to stab Rep. Ryan].
One who has experienced the abuse of power has learned a profound lesson in wisdom and can more likely be trusted with power.Later, Stoen returned to work for the district attorney's offices in Humboldt and Mendocino counties.
[8] Former Mendocino County District Attorney Norm Vroman, who hired Stoen back to the Ukiah office in 2000, stated "frankly, I've never seen him lose a case.
