Father Released But Still Faces Abduction Counts Judge Could No Longer Hold Man In Contempt For Keeping Sons Abroad

A former Newport, Wash., man who faces kidnapping charges for taking his children to Germany was released from jail Monday after a six-month stay failed to persuade him to return the children.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Paul Bastine determined the court no longer has authority to keep Cole C. Cummings incarcerated.

Cummings was in jail for contempt of court because he had refused to return two of his sons from Germany to their mother, Dana Hopkins, in Kettle Falls, Wash.

However, Cummings still faces a federal kidnapping charge and is awaiting a custody ruling from an international court this week.

“He’s not going anywhere,” said Maryann Moreno, Cummings’ attorney. “There’s still federal charges to answer to.”

As for the contempt charge, Bastine said that holding Cummings did not produce the desired effect, so he let him go.

“We’d held him for 186 days. Anything past that in my mind becomes punitive instead of coercive,” Bastine said.

Judges can jail people for contempt only for coercive reasons, to convince them they should do something ordered by the court, Bastine said.

Cummings, a 29-year-old carpenter, got out of jail immediately. Moreno told him not to talk to the media.

“Obviously we’re pleased; I guess the fourth time is a charm,” said Moreno, referring to the number of times Cummings and his attorneys went before the court asking for his release.

“We wish he’d made it (Bastine’s decision) a couple months earlier,” she said.

Hopkins’ attorney, Priscilla Vaagen, said she was not surprised by the judge’s decision.

“It’s a pretty serious thing to have someone in jail that long for a civil matter,” Vaagen said.

Hopkins is in Germany, where the case is being reviewed by The Hague Convention in Nuremberg. The convention was established to hear and resolve child-custody issues involving parents who live in 41 different countries.

Vaagen expects a decision on the boys’ fate by Thursday.

If the boys are ordered to stay and Cummings is found guilty of international kidnapping, another court battle would likely ensue.

Attorneys for Cummings said if the boys are ordered to stay in Germany, then the U.S. charges against him should be thrown out.

But assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Ohms told Vaagen if Cummings is found guilty in the United States, regardless of what the international court says, jurisdiction of the alleged crime is still on U.S. turf.

Ohms has already sent a letter to The Hague Convention stating the U.S. stance.

On Monday, in Hopkins’ stead, her mother, an aunt and niece and father-in-law were present in the Spokane court.

Vaagen said the family wasn’t so angry with the judge’s decision as they were at the fact that Dana Hopkins hasn’t been allowed by German authorities to see her sons.

Moreno said Cummings doesn’t want to return his two sons to what he contends is an “abusive environment.”

Cummings is scheduled to go to trial on the kidnapping charge Aug. 28. He is accused of taking Ryan, 9, and Kyle, 7, from Spokane during a weekend visit in March 1998 to live with him and his new wife in Germany.

The boys remained in Germany when Cummings was extradited to the United States late last year to stand trial on federal charges of international parental kidnapping.

Cummings and Hopkins have a third son who lives with Hopkins in Kettle Falls. Hopkins was awarded custody of the boys when she and Cummings were divorced in 1995.

No concerns for the safety of the third child have been expressed, Bastine said.

Cummings was allowed only weekend visits with his sons under a parenting plan filed as a court order in Pend Orielle County.