Coastal Post Online
MARIN COUNTY'S NEWS
MONTHLY - FREE PRESS
(415)868-1600 -
(415)868-0502(fax) - P.O. Box 31, Bolinas, CA, 94924
September, 2004
Another Family Court Horror Story
By Jim Scanlon
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Even though V. conferred with counselors at the Marin County District
Attorney's Victim Witness Assistance program for two and a half hours, before
she left the state with her two special needs children, and even though her
advisors there saw fit to make and retain a tape recording of the session, and
even though she stayed in a succession of protected family shelters for victims
of domestic violence or abuse, the mother was arrested, confined, extradited
under extraordinarily cruel and unusual conditions, back to Marin County where
she was confined under excessive bail for another three months until she
relented in her demand for a jury trial. She admitted to a misdemeanor violation
of the father's right to visit his children.
For the last three years she has been marginally employed, and is
homeless. Because she now has a criminal record she can no longer work for California schools where she once taught English as a second language. If she wishes to
travel by using commercial airlines, she has to get to the airport early
because Homeland Security screeners have her name in their database and subject
her to a special examination which requires her to remove all of her clothing while
her possessions are searched.
Her relationship with her children has been devastated. Judge
Smith, the Family Law Court Judge even denied her permission to see her
children on Mothers Day. Only recently Judge Goldfine authorized supervised
visitation over the objections of her ex husband and his attorney. These
visits, however, are hard to arrange with her ex husband and complicated by her
living and working 200 miles away.
A Perfect Disaster
This mother's situation is a perfect example of how destructive
and inhuman Family Law Court/Conciliation Court can be, when family violence,
emotional abuse, child abuse and neglect, and child sexual abuse are dealt
with, not as crimes, but blended in with custody issues to be negotiated by
lawyers. That is suspected crimes are not taken seriously.
As in mostly cases in California, the mother in this instance had
a more limited income and income potential, than the father, and, as court
proceedings progressed, she was forced to represent herself in court without
legal assistance. Money and not being honest about money, are usually important
issues between divorcing couples, but it become crucial when one parent cannot
afford to hire an attorney and the court does not require the party with the
money to pay for the one who does not have the money. When only one party in a
divorce is represented by council, an imbalance is created which inevitably
results in inequity and eventually in a miscarriage of justice.
Although there was a history of threats, violence, abuse and
neglect in the home documented by agencies outside Marin County, the custody of
V's three children was ordered placed with the father. There is nothing in the
case record to indicate that the Family Law Court Judge at that time, John A.
Sutro Jr. deliberated in any thoughtful way about what he was doing or that he
sought any clarifying information or professional guidance, or even mentioned
the fate of the children. He just did it, just like that! No reason given or
asked. No background. No clarification. The mother was not in court, the father
was. With that action the mother's link with her three minor children was
irrevocably altered. An honored judge can not make a mistake.
Justice Based On Willful Ignorance
In the two volume court record covering six years or so in the
life of this family there are no problems with claims of bias on the part of
evaluators or therapists since there aren't any evaluations of any kind. One
wishes desperately for a report from a school official, or a family therapist
or a social worker or a police officer, someone-anyone-not directly involved in
the conflict. They are just not in the court file. There are no attempts to
verify any of the mothers complaints or confirm or reject or interpret her
concerns: for example, over the father's alleged carelessness with firearms and
whether one or two of the children need psychotropic medication. Just lawyers
talking to lawyers in lawyer-talk ad nauseum.
The court file does contain an interesting letter no one seems to
have noticed from Contra Costa County Children and Family Services dated 11 May
2001 (one month before the mother moved to a family domestic violence shelter
outside California). The Social Worker writes:
"After interviewing [the children] individually, talking with
school personnel, speaking with the children's psychiatrist, and with medical
personnel, the Department has sustained the allegations of neglect [by the ex
husband].
"Because of [the children's] severe mental health issues, it
is strongly recommended that you take the necessary steps to protect your
children from any further neglect [by the father] and ensure that they continue
to receive the appropriate mental health services".
The writer goes on: "If you are unable to take the necessary
steps to protect your children from their father's behavior and ensure that
their mental health and medication needs are met, the Department... may be
forced to take action. This may lead to your children being placed in foster
care and a petition filed under Welfare and Institutions Code Sections 300
(b)and (c).
To a mother of three children facing foreclosure and dispossession
from her home because of a reduction in child support, this letter, which
completely supports her concerns, is paradoxically threatening her with loss of
her children if she doesn't do something about their contact with the father.
Following the Social Workers advice and the advice of the Victim Witness
Assistance Program of the Marin County District Attorney's Office (the two and
half hour tape) she files a "Parental Abduction 'Good Cause' Report"
in Martinez where she and the children last resided.
Her actions in this extreme situation, with no home, little money,
children with emotional problems and conflicting advice from officials in two
different counties, would later be examined minutely by Superior Court Judge
Terrence Boren and Deputy District Attorney Kelley Vieira as to whether or not
she complied with the law in filing a new proceeding within ten days of filing
a "good cause" order. The mother's failure to do everything just
right, eventually resulted in the prolongation of her month long detention on a
felony charge of violating a custody decree that the father had a right to have
custody no matter what he might have done. In other words, he was presumed
innocent she wasn't.
Mom's Records Better Than Court's
What is bizarre about this case is that despite having been
incarcerated for four months and living out of shelters and at times out of her
car, the mother's records are infinitely more informative and complete than the
official file regarding essential information about the children.
She has a detailed investigative report from Contra Costa Social
Services. A deposition from the Branch Manager of a Title Company declaring
that the ex husband prevented the sale of the mother's home in Contra Costa
county.
There is a letter from Contra Costa County Social Services to the
father advising him in bold faced type to "...[keep] all your guns locked
up and inaccessible to your children at all times." A letter from a Kaiser
Permanente clinical psychologist confirming the mental health status and
medication of one child. There are also several reports of referrals and
hospitalizations of one child for threatening to kill his teacher on one
occasion, his mother on another, and on another, his father and himself.
One would think that a parent with a troubled child who was
careless with firearms and ammunition would be arrested and the guns
confiscated, the NRA notwithstanding.
Another interesting scrap of information in the mother's
possession but not in the court file is a hand written piece of paper on
Superior Court stationary by Court Commissioner Randolph Heubach stating
"Matter is set for hearing in Co. Co. County [Contra Costa.] 12/15/00. No
concurrent jurisdiction". If the mother was confused, she wasn't the only
one.
No Protection In Domestic Violence Shelters
During the summer of 2001 (that fateful summer) the mother and her
children, without a home, traveled to Connecticut and entered the Thames Valley
Family Shelter where she would be near the home of a sister. Because her ex
husband spoke with the children and allegedly made a threatening statement
about the mother, the family had to leave that shelter and was moved to the Family Crisis Center in Knoxville Tennessee close to where another sister lived.
Perhaps it was unwise of shelter staff to move the family, perhaps
not, but anyone who has ever had any experience with domestic violence shelters,
or with people who have suffered from violence, or threats of violence, knows
how protective staff and relatives are towards the residents and also how
fearful and distrustful and, at times, how chaotically everyone can behave when
threatened.
This is what V's caseworker at the Knoxville Tennessee Homeward
Bound Shelter had to say about her:
"She [V.] has been receptive to being connected with any
agency that would provide information and help for her. [She] has worked with
agencies such as Alternative Counseling, Knox County Health Dept., TN Care,
Child and Family, Knox County Schools, etc. She always followed through on any
agency referral that I suggested to her. She was very involved with her
children and appeared to have excellent parenting skills. [She] had an
excellent rapport with Knox County Schools that her children attended. She
attended all meetings and worked on an ongoing basis to insure that all of her
children had a proper environment for education, counseling and mental health
treatment."
It can never be known if Judges Sutro or Boren might have cared to
know what kind of a mother-child relationship they were destroying when they
acted as they did. But they irrevocably deprived three children of the loving
care of their mother. Loving care seems like something worth preserving.
The Long Horrible Journey To Marin County Jail
In late November 2001 investigators from the Marin County District
Attorney's Office traveled to Tennessee and took the children into custody at
their school. V. was also arrested at the school and jailed by the Knoxville
Police. The Marin peace officers came to the mother to ask her to help them
calm down and reassure the children, which she did. She provided them with
medications and instructions on their use, including where to find the original
prescription containers. That was the last time she saw her children together.
She remained in the Knoxville jail for almost thirty days until
she was picked up on the last day that the local authorities could legally hold
her. She was taken by a contract police officer who she said was polite and
considerate. He covered her hand cuffs which were shackled to a large leather
belt around her waist. She was stripped naked and searched at the Knoxville Airport and in Kansas City. There were no intrusive searches of her body cavities.
After arriving in Los Angeles she was transferred to a prison
transportation van and, over the next two and a half days, the van zig zagged
across southern and central California between various state prisons and jails,
picking up, and dropping off prisoners. The van was operated by police officers
who only drove within certain zones until a new crew came on. She said these
officers were kind and considerate to her: they loosened her handcuffs so she
could move her wrists freely so they wouldn't hurt so much.
The van never stopped to allow sleeping. If someone had to urinate
or defecate the officers stopped at whatever construction outhouse was
available alongside the road. Every now and then they would stop at a Burger
King and get everyone a dollar burger and a cup of water. She stopped eating
after a few burgers so she wouldn't have to defecate on the trip.
She did not make conversation with the male prisoners (there was
only one other woman during the trip) and they did not bother her at all. She
said that one young man got on her nerves for constantly talking about how much
money he made selling drugs. She told him if he had worked at MacDonalds at
minimum wage during the years he had been in prison he would have made more
money at MacDonalds.
Her One Complaint
She had no idea why she had not been flown from Los Angeles to San
Francisco, a trip that takes one hour, rather than transported by a van over
two and half days. V. said , "Some [inmates] said it cost more money by
air. Others say it's their [those in control] way of letting you know that they
are angry at you and you are being punished." It could also be
indifference.
Her only real complaint was the intrusive body cavity search when
she entered the Marin County Jail. She didn't mind stripping naked for she was
getting used to it, but she said she felt humiliated by having to bend over and
spread her buttocks with her hand and expose her anus and vagina. The matron kept
telling her bend over further, and you are not doing it right and the process
really upset her. She admitted that she was grouchy for not having slept in so
long, but it really upset her.
She said the female guard at the Knoxville jail was nice about it.
The matron told her, "I can see you have never done this before, so let me
tell you what I am going to do" and the woman explained the procedure and
why it was done.
V. made a formal, written complaint about the search in Marin and
was told by the deputy sheriff receiving the complaint "It won't do
you no good!"
But, other than that, she said she didn't mind the jail that much.
The staff was nice to her and so were the inmates. She said she complained
about one guard who seemed to needlessly provoke a woman who was mentally ill
and as a result the woman screamed and bothered and upset everyone.
But other than that she used her time in jail productively.
Excessive Bail Is Disgrace!
Her bail set by Judge Boren was $500,000. He later reduced her
bail to $250,000. She produced a bail schedule which notes that "Shooting
at Inhabited Dwelling, Building or Occupied Car is $150,000. "Rape in
Concert with Force and Violence is $150,000. Child Abuse Likely to Produce
Great Bodily Injury or Death is $500,000. Child Stealing 278 PC (someone else's
child) is $50,000 Her own charge 278.5 PC Violation of a Custody Decree which
may be filed as a misdemeanor or felony, is not listed and would arguably be
between $10,000 and $50,000 especially with no previous criminal record.
It is unconscionable that Judge Boren would set bail at $500,000
for an indigent woman, without doubt a good mother, who made numerous good
faith efforts to do the right, if not the precisely legal thing. Reducing her
bail to $250,000 is equally absurd. Even after she relented in her efforts to
get a trial before a jury-that two and a half hour tape would have made very
interesting listening for a jury-and she plead guilty to her charge as a
misdemeanor, and her bail was reduced to $10,000, she had trouble getting that
paltry bail money for a week!
What is so troubling about setting unattainable, unconstitutional
bail for mothers of young children where there is absolutely no violence or
neglect involved is that there is only an abstract, hypothetical, unexamined
violation of a father's right. Something that is essentially a civil matter.
And, no presumption of the mother's innocence.
Conflict of Interest
What is worse is the obvious conflict of interest that existed
within the District Attorney's Office. The District Attorney's Office does not
examine reports concerning the father. There is evidence DA staff advised the
mother before she left Marin, i.e. the tape recordings. An Assistant DA obtains
a warrant from Judge Boren who was a Supervising Assistant District Attorney
for many years. The Assistant DA has Judge Ritchie removed for prejudice (judge
shopping). The Public Defender has Judge McGivern removed for prejudice (later
he retires because of neurological problems). Finally Judge Boren a former
Assistant District Attorney hears the case which involves-or should have
involved-the internal workings of the District Attorney's Office. The isolated
and emotionally exhausted takes a plea, no jury will ever hear her reasons for seeking
domestic violence protection. The system is protected.
For an alleged crime that is not intrinsically wrong, a half
million dollars, or a quarter of a million dollars, or ten thousand dollars, or
any dollar bail for a hard working, undeniably good, hard working mother yanked
out of a shelter for victims of domestic violence is a disgrace on Judge Boren
and the District Attorney. We should all be ashamed of what has happened to
this mother and her children!
Lawyers' Law Court Drones Roboticly On and On and On...
This is how V's little family was destroyed. But she hasn't yet
given up hope. She still makes court appearances. The dates come and go to no
apparent purpose. Still no mention of the children. Judge Smith denied a visit
with the children on Mother's day. The appearances come and go.
What does she think of the different judges before whom she has
appeared. She liked Judge Dufficy. She thought he was trying to be helpful.
(Note; the Coastal Post has been highly critical of Judge Dufficy. Was he the
best of the lot?). She is afraid of Judge Sutro. "He yelled at me for not
faxing the court that I wouldn't be there. I didn't have a phone or a
home!" She likes Judge Goldfine who handled her case once. "He gave
me bad news" she wants me to understand. "He went against me, but he
looked me right in the eyes and spoke to me like he wanted me to
understand"
V.
She says she want to get a place and get custody of her children.
She is an unusual woman. She speaks in a plain, clear, articulate voice. She
answers questions directly, succinctly and without hesitation. She writes well
in a open flowing cursive script. She doesn't smoke or drink. She used to be
thin and athletic but since all the turmoil began with the divorce and losing
her two homes, she has gained 100 pounds and she feels bad about it even though
she caries her extra weight well.
She doesn't speak badly about anyone, not even her ex
husband." I don't know why he is always in such a rage about me," she
says matter of factly. She acknowledges that her children love him. She never
once mentioned being battered and beaten by her husband although a letter,
presumably to the court in V's personal file mentions bruises, split lips,
bloody noses etc. She only complained about her ex husband's threats and his
bad example to the children.
Her only passion besides her children is trout fishing in the foot
hills of the Sierra. "I can get away from my problems and I get something
to eat too." She takes children from the local school camping and fishing.
She goes to church regularly. She wants to take her children to church with her
some day.
But once or twice during conversations with her, he eyes fill with
tears and she admits to getting so, so ... tired, so... "disgusted,"
I suggest. "Yes disgusted... " And after a minute of silence she
catches herself and smiles and the tears go away and her fragile, desperate
optimism returns.