Judge Says Couple Used Excessive Force on Adopted Girls

Judge Says Couple Used Excessive Force on Adopted Girls

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

A Queens judge ruled yesterday that an Arizona couple who had been accused of beating their newly adopted Russian children on a flight from Moscow to New York had used excessive force, and he ordered the girls moved to yet another foster home -- their fifth in four months. The judge, who dismissed more serious abuse charges against the adoptive parents, also delayed for at least a month and possibly much longer a decision on the custody of the girls.

The judge, Joseph M. Lauria of Family Court, said that the girls, ages 4 and 5, could live temporarily in the Phoenix area with a relative of the adoptive parents, Richard Thorne, 48, and Karen Thorne, 43.

The girls are at the center of a protracted and convoluted case against the Thornes, who were charged with beating them on the flight to New York on May 28. The Thornes have not had custody of the girls since the flight landed at Kennedy International Airport. The girls lived in two foster homes in New York before moving to a third and then a fourth home in Arizona.

Judge Lauria, who has heard testimony in the case on and off since July, dismissed six abuse charges against the Thornes but found them guilty of six lesser counts of neglect. Neglect is characterized as excessive corporal punishment that is not perceived as life-threatening.

New details of the girls' chaotic lives in the United States emerged in the courtroom yesterday. The judge was told that the girls had dental and eye problems and that one had a heart murmur, and he ordered that they be treated within a week at the Thornes' expense. They had not been treated because of a dispute over payment between the Thornes and the State of Arizona.

In making his ruling, the judge said the parents showed a ''pattern of inappropriate thinking'' and an instinct to shout at the girls, which only aggravated their distress at leaving their orphanage and the only care providers they had known. He cited Mrs. Thorne's telling one girl, ''We're your only family; no one else wants you,'' as an example of ''continually assaultive behavior.''

Judge Lauria said that while there was not enough evidence to prove abuse, his finding of neglect was ''not even a close call.'' He said the Thornes had both lied during their testimony, making ''glaring untruths'' and tailoring their statements to explain the testimony of witnesses.

Judge Lauria ordered that the girls be moved -- at the Thornes' request -- to the home of Mrs. Thorne's brother in the Phoenix area. The Thornes have wanted members of their own family to have custody of the girls if they could not, but their appeal became more urgent once the Thornes, who are Jewish and want to raise the girls in their faith, learned that they are in a Christian home and are attending church on Sundays.

The Thornes' lawyers said the girls have not had complete educational, medical or psychological evaluations. As for their emotional state, Katerina Contaratos, a lawyer for New York City's Administration for Children's Services, which has custody of the girls although they are living in Arizona, said that after the parents' weekly supervised visits, one of the girls would smear her feces around her room.

The judge also ordered the Thornes to have a psychiatric evaluation and said that he wanted it completed by Nov. 7, when the participants in the case are to reconvene to try to work out a timetable that could lead to the Thornes' being reunited with the girls.

The judge yesterday also ordered an increase in the Thornes' visitation rights, but said that Mrs. Thorne's brother had to be home and that the Thornes could not stay overnight.

The judge had been prepared some weeks ago to move the girls to the brother's home, but the brother, who is 50, objected to having a supervisor in his home. The lawyers for the Thornes said they expected that the brother would now abide by the court order, which provides for frequent and unannounced visits from Arizona child welfare authorities.

The Thornes still face charges in Criminal Court of child abuse, neglect and endangerment.