Marcus W. Rankin v. Wayne Howard and Jane Doe Howard, His Wife Joseph Alexander, Sr. And Esther Alexander, His Wife

The parents of 22 year old Marcus Rankin, a member of the Unification Church, sought to have him “deprogrammed.” They retained Howard, an Arizona lawyer, to institute a guardianship proceeding.

Howard filed a petition for guardianship with Judge Zeller, a nonlawyer probate judge in Pottawatomie County, Kansas. The petition falsely recited that Rankin was a resident of Pottawatomie County. Actually, he lived in Missouri.

On Christmas 1976, while Rankin was at home in Missouri, guardianship papers were issued ex parte by the Kansas judge. Young Rankin was then flown to Kansas in his father’s plane for what he thought would be a social visit.

On arrival he was taken into custody and flown to Arizona. There he was confined to a motel room for “deprogramming,” in which Trauscht, another lawyer, allegedly participated. He escaped after nine days.

Rankin sued his parents, Judge Zeller, Howard, Trauscht, and others, alleging a conspiracy to deprive him of civil rights in violation of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 , 1985, and 1986 and common-law torts.

He charged that the judge privately agreed with the others before the petition was filed to order the guardianship, knew that the jurisdictional…