ROSEBURG (AP) - A judge has refused to reduce the prison sentence of a woman serving 71/2 years in prison for helping her husband take their children at gunpoint from state child welfare workers at a freeway rest stop and flee to Montana.

Douglas County Circuit Judge William Lasswell ruled Wednesday there was no legal basis to reduce the sentence of Ruth Christine, who was convicted in 2002 of six counts of robbery, custodial interference and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

The judge came to the same conclusion last month on a motion from Christine's husband, Brian, who was convicted on the same counts and is serving 121/2 years because he was the one who used the gun.

Ruth Christine, 31, told Lasswell that her actions were based on her desire to be reunited with her children.

"I'm not saying I didn't break any laws and shouldn't receive punishment. However, we're not only talking about laws but people's lives," she said.

After a supervised visit with his children in Grants Pass, Brian Christine held a .357 Magnum revolver on two state child welfare workers at an Interstate 5 rest stop near Myrtle Creek on Aug. 1, 2001, before driving off in their state van with his three daughters, then ages 5, 3 and 2. After switching cars nearby, the couple drove with their children and a friend to Montana.

Brian Christine was later arrested for speeding in a rented car, and authorities tracked down the rest of his family living outside Missoula, Mont.

The children had been taken into state custody in 2000 after an anonymous caller reported they appeared malnourished while living with their parents in a converted bus near Grants Pass.

The girls since have been adopted by Ruth Christine's parents and live on their dairy farm in England. A fourth child, born after Ruth Christine was arrested, is being cared for by Brian Christine's mother in Indiana.