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If you Google “Eileen Clark Extradited on Charges of Kidnapping,” you will see how media in the United Kingdom practically fell into a trance over a mother who fled the United States alleging spousal abuse.

Nearly two decades after Eileen took three children out of the family home (in Placitas), the time to address her unlawful flight to avoid prosecution is at hand. A jury consisting of people from various walks of life will come together to examine each fact presented. Notwithstanding charges that previous juries issued against her, a trial will convene and a judge will deliver a final outcome at last.

The jury system incorporates evidence provided with rules of law and uses the common sensibilities of the jury to render decisions. Serving on a jury is one of the best ways to make a civil impact in your world. Your carefully considered verdict is used to send messages to all sectors of society. A grand jury, in particular, can send a message to the judicial system to subpoena, issue warrants and compel evidence to be valid and not inflated. A grand juror can ask questions of witnesses and, in some cases, provide examples for discovery not yet considered. The time has come to send a strong message to abductors and obstructers that you cannot take the law into your own hands … ever.

As this case comes to trial, there are some things to consider because global public opinion will weigh in on this landmark ruling when it comes down. Interest groups related to abduction are already watching.

In 2010, Eileen was arrested. It is reasonable that she would be scared of the repercussions her extradition would bring. She felt she had beaten the rap and outlived a statute of limitations (not applicable in the UK). Her defenses, now reconstituted with guilt, bring her to the point of psychological exhaustion. This defense mechanism causes her to point the finger of blame at the real victim — John Clark. In a last ditch effort to avoid extradition, she and her counsel claimed she had PTSD (more likely a guilty conscience), a fear of flying and had lived openly for years in the community. Claiming she had always feared her ex-husband “would find and hurt” her, you might ask, “Why did she live so openly?” And her fear of flying did not prevent her taking such a flight in 1998 with the children.

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Eileen systematically recruited sympathizers to her cause and enlisted legal support from human rights groups such as Liberty. Without merit, and no charges pending against him, Liberty propped her up, supported her custodial theft and Eileen became the UK’s poster child of a weak victim afraid to face her ex-husband in a court of law. Liberty’s core mission seems genuine in scope but they do a disservice to legitimate victims when they accept at face value a case such as Eileen’s.

It has taken four years to return this fugitive to the U.S. to now face federal rather than civil charges. The consequences of her actions will likely relinquish her from the helm of the children’s future passages through life. Based on evidence alone, I predict John Clark will be vindicated from the slanderous blindside of parental alienation he and his children have experienced for nearly two decades now. His tireless efforts will be rewarded as the verdict is read and the outcome will surely affect abduction cases well into the future.

(Ronda Orchard, a resident of Rio Rancho for 26 years, was a juror on the second grand jury convened in Sandoval County in the Eileen Clark case.)