Paper: Houston Chronicle

Date: Wed 07/11/07

Section: B Page: 4 Edition: 3 STAR

Ex-deputy again cleared in appeal / Prosecutors had charged a scheme to claim a link to Toys for Tots

By DALE LEZON STAFF

For the second time, a state appeals court in Houston has reversed the theft conviction of the former president of the Harris County Deputies Organization in what prosecutors had called a scheme to persuade donors their contributions would go to the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots program.

The decision, which was released Friday, states that Ed Christensen is not guilty of the allegations because the evidence is legally insufficient to prove his guilt.

"It's a grand slam," said Burt Springer, Christensen's attorney. "He's won twice on appeal."

Harris County prosecutors expect to appeal the decision to the Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest appeals court for criminal cases, said Alan Curry, chief of the appellate division at the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

Christensen was sentenced to four years' probation in 2004 after being convicted of theft of between $1,500 and $20,000.

Prosecutors said Christensen knew that telemarketers raising money for the union deceived donors about their donations going to Toys for Tots.

Springer said Christensen, a former Marine, was unaware of the telemarketers' methods.

The alleged scheme netted about $350,000 between 1998 and 2000, prosecutors said. Most of the money was paid to the telemarketing firms, they added, and the union kept about $70,000 for general expenses.

A three-justice panel of the state's 1st Court of Appeals ruled in November, however, that evidence did not show Christensen, a former sheriff's deputy, intended to steal the money. It sent the case back to the trial court.

Prosecutors asked the appeals court to reconsider.

Now the court says that Christensen can't be prosecuted on the theft allegations because the evidence does not establish his guilt.

Christensen, who was fired from the sheriff's office after he was convicted, can attempt to be reinstated in his position, Springer said, if the recent appeals court ruling is upheld.

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