8.1.10

The Seventh Annual Battered Mothers Custody Conference Begins tonight Albany NY

 

 

What is Parental Alienation Syndrome?

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6vJrG8Acmo&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

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The Seventh Battered Mothers Custody Conference:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eoj0sUz6hY&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5viwjaIorU8&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvrjQ-Z2fsY&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

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Shawnee County, KS Family Guidelines K.S.A 60-1610 et K.S.A 60-1616 for Custody et Visitation of Minor Children -KS Joint Committee Testimonies

What is Parental Alienation Syndrome?

 

Shawnee County Family Guidelines for Custody and Visitation of minor children 2006 (fully Downloadable pdf file)

 

60-1610 Chapter 60.--PROCEDURE, CIVIL

                 Article 16.--DIVORCE AND MAINTENANCE

60-1616 Chapter 60.--PROCEDURE, CIVIL

                 Article 16.--DIVORCE AND MAINTENANCE

 

I realize it would be redundant to send this message to the judge or any lawyer involved in this case, -sigh- but for kicks and giggles I thought I would post the KSA Statutes-also known as the ‘law’ and the ‘bible’ (Shawnee County Guidelines) of what everyone should do in visitation and justice- unless of course you are ‘batterer’ (UNDERSTANDING THE BATTERER IN CUSTODY AND VISITATION DISPUTES)  these of course do not apply as in criminal rewards you will be able to be immune from all law(Therapeutic Jurisprudence)  and further by proxy of the courts and the mandatory Kansas fatherhood initiatives(administered by Don Jordan Secretary SRS) and we shan’t forget the court whores for hire that enable the continued abuse and re victimization of battered mothers and their children.

 

 

page 35 Shawnee County Family Guidelines for Custody and Visitation of minor children 2006 

Shawnee County Court Case No. 96-D-217

Age 9 up to 13 Years Old

Shared time or shared residency may be considered where criteria are met
Both parents shall support growing extra-curricular activities and friendships

! Avoid more than seven days without seeing either parent
! Relationship with same sex parent may become increasingly important
! Considering the age and maturity of the child, one midweek school night visit may be
overnight

Standard Parenting time:
-  Alternate weekends, from Friday 5:30 p.m. to Sunday 5:30 p.m.
-  Mid-week visits: either each Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and alternate
-  Mondays following the off weekend, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.; or each Tuesday from
   5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and alternate Thursdays immediately prior to the off weekend, from
   5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
- In the summer, a midweek visit may be overnight


Age 13 up to 15 Years Old


  • ! Opinions and ideas of adolescents regarding parenting time are increasingly important
    ! Parenting plan and both parents shall actively support school, extra-curricular activities and
    friendships.


Standard Parenting time:
! Schedule same as 9 to 13 age group, with extensions and overnights based upon age,
maturity and bedtime of child.


Age 15 up to 18 Years Old


  • ! The interests, friendships, activities, events and employment of children at this age are
    crucial to their development and well-being. As such, they shall be actively supported and
    encouraged by both parents.


Standard Parenting time:
! Parenting plan and schedule same as 9 to 13 age group, expressly subject to
accommodating the child’s school, work, extra-curricular activities and friendships

Can some one tell me what part of insanity does this court and the the players NOT fit into?

60-1616  Chapter 60.--PROCEDURE, CIVIL

                 Article 16.--DIVORCE AND MAINTENANCE

60-1616. Parenting time; visitation orders; enforcement. (a) Parents. A parent is entitled to reasonable parenting time unless the court finds, after a hearing, that the exercise of parenting time would seriously endanger the child's physical, mental, moral or emotional health.

      (b)   Grandparents and stepparents. Grandparents and stepparents may be granted visitation rights.

      (c)   Modification. The court may modify an order granting or denying parenting time or visitation rights whenever modification would serve the best interests of the child.

      (d)   Enforcement of rights. An order granting visitation rights or parenting time pursuant to this section may be enforced in accordance with the uniform child custody jurisdiction and enforcement act, or K.S.A. 23-701, and amendments thereto.

      (e)   Repeated denial of rights, effect. Repeated unreasonable denial of or interference with visitation rights or parenting time granted pursuant to this section may be considered a material change of circumstances which justifies modification of a prior order of legal custody, residency, visitation or parenting time.

      (f)   Court ordered exchange or visitation at a child exchange and visitation center. (1) The court may order exchange or visitation to take place at a child exchange and visitation center, as established in K.S.A. 75-720 and amendments thereto.

      (2)   Any party may petition the court to modify an order granting visitation rights or parenting time to require that the exchange or transfer of children for visitation or parenting time take place at a child exchange and visitation center, as established in K.S.A. 75-720 and amendments thereto. The court may modify an order granting visitation whenever modification would serve the best interests of the child.

Shawnee County Court Case No. 96-D-217

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWqBFHIaa0w&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

 

 

 

Compelling stories from parents and grandparents about problems with placement and removal of children

By Earl Glynn On December 4, 2009

Claudine Dombrowski

Claudine Dombrowski:  An abused mom victimized again by the Kansas Courts

Claudine Dombrowski: An abused mom victimized again by the Kansas Courts

Read details in written statement.

This is an truly incredible story that should never have happened in America. 

Parts of the Kansas Judicial system should be disciplined for how it has victimized Ms. Dombrowski, who was an abused mom.

Instead of quotes from the audio, please consult these pages that document Dombrowski’s long and difficult battle to protect her daughter:

As you view these photos keep in mind that the court awarded FULL CUSTODY of their daughter to the “man” who did this to Claudine.

State Rep Bill Otto: “No crime? You haven’t been guilty of anything? This is a court order that says you can’t go to any school functions?”

“I was under court order till 2004 to not even call the police after I was being beaten because … I was not ‘co-parenting’”

Dombrowski: “These friends of the court make recommendations to the judge. The parents … don’t have a right to see these documents. They do this behind closed doors.”

Otto: (To Secretary Jordan): “You have no rights as a parent …?”

Secretary Don Jordan: “This would be something extreme … I’m not familiar with the situation.”

Otto: “Can a judge do that? … Is that legal… ?”

Jordan: “Under the right circumstances … I hesitate to speculate.”

Sen. Roger Reitz: “This is something that only … the judicial system can really answer … It would be helpful … to have someone … representing the judicial system … to give us some ideas how this could happen.”

Dombrowski: “When you are a victim of domestic violence, and suddenly there’s a child involved, the typical …. power of control is that ‘I’ll take your children from you’. They will and they can the way the laws are setup.” …

“I was told that I’m not to talk to my daughter about the violence. That’s why I don’t see her. That’s why I see her supervised. He was criminally convicted. “

“When women try to get away from people who hurt them … I heard somebody say it’s really hard to believe you won’t call the police … I tell people not to contact the police, because as soon as you walk into court with a DV (domestic violence) and children, you’re already cutting your throat. You will lose your children. That’s the way it is right now.”

“… on the 16th of this month I’ll probably go to jail for breaking the gag order and talking about [being the victim of] violence as it relates to my case.”

Reitz: “… someone ought to be able to deal with this in a way that would address her problem. It doesn’t seem like we’ve done the right thing with regards to this little niche of the law.”

Dombrowski: “The criminal convictions are completely tossed aside and they don’t have any bearing on the family court … The eight criminal convictions that my ex had before getting custody of my daughter were completely dropped [in family court]“

Chair Kiegerl: “I cannot believe that abuse is totally ignored. I cannot believe you can prohibit a person from speaking about their own case.”

“The one thing [where] … I disagree with you is abuse should always be reported.”

State Rep Peggy Mast (R-Emporia): “Domestic violence is a control issue. Sexual abuse is a control issue. Is there any correlation between domestic violence and sexual abuse? Why is that not something that is considered when we take someone to [family] court that has a history of domestic violence?”

Dombrowski: “Yes. That is something I’ve asked myself for 16 years. … It comes back to the family court that has a veil of immunity. … They don’t fully understand the impact of the violence. What battered women have … if they report the abuse, then they’re failing to protect their child … if they don’t report the abuse, they’re still failing to protect their child. So, both ways, they’re going to lose their children …”

For anybody who abuses their wife … [from] a 1996 presidential task force … there is a 70% increase that those children will be abused and/or sexually abused after there’s been battery with the mother.

Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudea: “In 2004 …. I talked with the homicide department in Sedgwick County…. During that time there had been 21 homicides in Sedgwick County and 18 were due to domestic violence …”

“A lot of women do make those phone calls and unfortunately, sometimes it ends in their death.” …

“I want to apologize to you for being treated like a pedophile … not being able to go to a music concert.”

“I commend you for what you’re doing.”

Dombrowski: “I have not talked to my daughter in 10 years [except] for the confines of supervised visits. I’m not allowed to talk to her about anything. All she knows is what her dad has told her.”

Listen to Claudine Dombrowski:

 

Claudine Dombrowski: An abused mom victimized again by the Kansas Courts

Posted in Children, Kansas Government by kansaswatchdog on December 4th, 2009

Testimony by Claudine Dombrowski at the hearing of the Kansas Joint Committee on Children’s Issues on Nov 30, 2009 in Topeka about problems with child placement and removal.

Listen Now:

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The Seventh Battered Mothers Custody Conference:

 

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7.1.10

"Gag Order" Forbids Mom from Helping Save 3 yr old daughter From Abuse

"Gag Order" Forbids Mom from Helping Save 3 yr old daughter From Abuse

CONNIE BEDWELL FACES JAIL TIME IF SHE SPEAKS OUT ON BEHALF OF HER ABUSED 3 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER

Connie Bedwell is the loving mother of 3 yr old Aaliyah. Connie has not seen her daughter for over 6 months now. Aaliyah, continually physically and sexually abused by her father the majority of her life, has now been placed in his sole custody. (The physical abuse started while she was in my womb, and the sexual abuse is believed to have started when Aaliyah's behavior changed at the age of 15 months).

Connie fled from her ex to Alaska when Aaliyah was only 4 wks old, after being physically abused and threatened with her and her daughter’s lives. Only after months of legal action and “judge hopping” was her ex able to convince Connie to relocate back to California so she would not have to fly home monthly for his supervised visitation. Ms. Bedwell agreed to move back to California only after the court promised the child would be safe, based on the fact that Aaliyah's father would continue to be on supervised visits. Aaliyah's father also has a criminal record, a long history of abusing Ms. Bender, and an alcohol problem.

Over the past few years, as Aaliyah has begun to communicate, she has complained that “Daddy owies”, and that “Grandpa owies” (Grandpa was supervising the visits). Aaliyah has complained that Daddy hurts her butt and her pee pee. She complains of “Daddy’s one-eyed yucky hairy Worm” being put in her mouth. She has returned to Connie with bruises on her body and has demonstrated how "Daddy kicked her" and “bonked her head on the table”. She has come home from visits singing, “Aaliyah, Aaliyah, your mommy is dead”. When asked where she learned the song, Aaliyah said, “Daddy taught it to me.” She has acted out by sticking objects into her vagina and by playing “murder” with her dolls and "burying" them, always carefully hiding the mommy and the baby dolls to keep them safe. When being handed over for visitation, Aaliyah would cling to her mother, digging her fingernails into her and screaming and crying that she didn’t want to go.

Notwithstanding these inconceivable occurrences, the authorities and public officials have continued to insist they want nothing to do with the case and in fact, they cover their mistakes with lies and ludicrous statements. Numerous changes of the Judges have happened approximately 9 times, one even recusing herself.

In July of 2008 custody was taken away from Connie, and she was only able to see her daughter in a supervised setting. Like many of these cases that we too often see, one has to wonder how, given the circumstances, does a man with an alcoholic and abusive history who originally had a "No contact, no threats, no harassing" order on him and eventually only granted supervised visitation, manipulate the system so that he can obtain full custody, and thus, “free license” to repeatedly abuse a 3 yr old girl. These are the kinds of cases that make us all wonder if there is not some other motivation on the part of the family court system other than protecting and looking out for the best interests of young children.

It seems, in this case, that the father’s lawyer is VERY well connected. In fact, the lawyer’s husband is a family court judge in the very same family court in which this case is being heard. It is also a fact that the father’s parents are very well connected within the community. It is within these “connections” that we often find the hidden, and less than pure, motivations behind some family court decisions.

As it stands today, Connie has been placed under an unconstitutional Restraining Order, forbidding her to post on the Internet about The Truth of the case. If she does, she is facing the possible threat that she may spend time in jail. We are asking that the obvious injustices in this case be investigated, and that the unconstitutional “restraining order” that has been placed on Connie Bedwell be lifted so that Connie may come to the defense of her helpless little girl. We are expecting that once this case is finally exposed, that The Truth will be evident and little Aaliyah can be out of danger and reunited with her protective mom, and justice, as it should, will prevail.

PLEASE HELP . . .SIGN PETITION . . .It only takes a minute

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/471796387

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Conn. cops: Ex-Bush lawyer tried to kill wife

 

     

      Associated PressAssociated Press Writer

      January 7, 2010

      NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A former top attorney toPresident Bush is facing charges that he tried to kill his wife at their Connecticut home by beating her with a flashlight and strangling her.

      John Michael Farren, 57, was charged with strangulation and attempted murder. He was arraigned Thursday and held on $2 million bond.

      Police said his bloodied wife, Mary, passed out during the attack Wednesday night at their New Canaan home but regained consciousness and fled the house with her children. She was in stable condition at Norwalk Hospital with a broken nose, a broken jaw and other injuries.

      Her husband's attorney, Eugene Riccio, declined to comment.

      An arrest affidavit says the attack occurred after Mary Farren delivered divorce papers to her husband Monday.

      Farren was deputy counsel in the White Housecounsel's office.

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      Joe Kennedy: A Politician that Domestic Violence Perpetrators Can Count On?

      Joe Kennedy: A Politician that Domestic Violence Perpetrators Can Count On?

      Filed under: Activism, Call to action, Corrupt politicians, Domestic Abuse, Domestic Relations, Domestic Violence, Fathers Rights, Getting screwed by the politicians, Hate Crimes, Human Rights, Intimate Partner Assault, Joe Kennedy, Massachusetts, Mother's Rights, Parents Rights, VAWA, Violence Against Women Act, Violence against men, Violence against women, fathers fighting for custody — justice4mothers @ 7:20 pm

      Massachusetts voters, take note.  Candidate for U.S. Senate Joe Kennedy (no, he isn’t one of those Kennedys) seems to have aligned with father’s rights advocates in the state.  Joe prepared a little statement on the Violence Against Women Act for the boy’s club there.  Seems they are very concerned about allegations of abuse and parental rights.  Usually it is the abusers that scream the loudest about false allegations.  Like Mark Godbey, author of Father’s Parental Rights blog.

      False Allegations, Dishonest Tactics, What Does A Honest Parent To Do?

      mkg4583 wrote 3 days ago: False Allegations, Dishonest Tactics, What Does A Honest Parent To Do? By: Ed Brooks via False Alleg … more →

      Parental Rights

      Who’s to blame, parents mainly, but the vase majority of cases arise out of false allegations of abuse, and the misuse/abuse DVrestraining orders to gain
      mkg4583…

      Pretty pathetic, given he’s had three restraining orders on him and is currently on probation from what we can tell from the court records.

      So back to Joe Kennedy.  Why is he protecting parents who have abuse allegations?  Study after study show that false allegations of abuse are very rare.  Yes, gender HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT (father’s rights groups try and make it a gender issue).  But for the children’s sake, shouldn’t abuse allegations be investigated?  (And not by some paid-for Whore of the Court).  Why does Joe Kennedy want this factor eliminated?  Doesn’t he know there are laws on the books everywhere that makes it a crime for one person to assault another person?  Maybe he doesn’t believe it happens or doesn’t read the newspaper?  He doesn’t seem to know very much if he thinks it has to be addressed in state legislatures.  He doesn’t seem to think one person assaulting another is a criminal act, already punishable by law, if only our police forces, prosecutor’s offices and criminal courts would do their jobs and uphold the law.

      I will be sending him the latest U.S. Department of Justice report on domestic violence to educate him on how many more female victims there are than male victims.

      Warn Massachusetts mothers about this one…


      ——– Original Message ——–
      Subject: RE: Fathers’ rights issues
      From: support@fatherhoodcoalition.org
      Date: Tue, December 29, 2009 5:53 am
      To: joe@joekennedyforsenate.com

      Joe,

      Thank you for the requested statement which I will distribute to our
      fathers’ email boards.

      Will you raise these fathers’ rights issues (eg, $10b-plus VAWA
      legislation) in the upcoming debates?

      Again, for reference, I direct you to The Fatherhood Coalition website
      www.fatherhoodcoalition.org for information.

      Regards,
      Joe Ureneck


      ——– Original Message ——–
      Subject: RE: [SPAM] Fathers’ rights issues
      From: <postmaster@ilawg.com>
      Date: Mon, December 28, 2009 10:33 pm
      To: <support@fatherhoodcoalition.org>

      Joe I believe this is what you are looking for.

      While significant domestic violence issues exist and must be dealt
      with, the Violence Against Women Act [VAWA] is not the solution.
      First off, no bill should be gender biased. If we were to have any
      bill addressing violence it must be gender neutral. Secondly, the
      issue of domestic violence needs to be addressed by individual states
      as does funding. Any issue which funnels money through federal
      bureaucracies only dilutes actual dollars that go to the cause. In
      addition to these two issues which would already lead to my not
      supporting a bill of this nature is the potential abuse of the bill.

      Today the concept that any parent (man or woman) could be denied their
      parental rights based on the mere allegation of abuse begs for
      corruption.
      We have a domestic abuse problem in this country and both
      men and women are victims. Domestic violence issues are serious and
      must be addressed without bias by legislature on the state level and
      in a manner that directly deals with the issue of abuse.
      Thanks

      Joe Kennedy

      joe@joekennedyforsenate.com
      http://joekennedyforsenate.com

      From: support@fatherhoodcoalition.org
      [mailto:support@fatherhoodcoalition.org]
      Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 7:24 PM
      To: joe@joekennedyforsenate.com
      Subject: [SPAM] Fathers’ rights issues



      Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

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      No Nookie or Interfere With Mother and Child Bond, Get a World Full of Angry Young Men

      No Nookie or Interfere With Mother and Child Bond, Get a World Full of Angry Young Men

      Filed under: Best interest of children, Best interest of the child, Best interest of the children, Domestic Abuse, Domestic Relations, Domestic Violence, Maternal Deprivation, Mother Child Relationship, Motherhood, Motherless children, Non-custodial Mothers, Noncustodial Mothers — justice4mothers @ 9:22 pm

      I like this article.  I agree, if some of these violent guys would get laid, it might settle them down.  I particularly like the comments about the interference with the mother and child bond…this guy actually makes a lot of sense.  From Psychology Today:


      Sex at Dawn

      Exploring the evolutionary origins of modern sexuality.

      by Christopher Ryan

      Sex Against War

      We’d all be safer if guys like Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab got laid occasionally.

      Published on January 5, 2010

      In Britain’s Independent, Howard Jacobson makes a very good point about how a little fun could defuse a lot of the terrorist threat.

      Terrorist groups, he writes, look for “partially educated, preferably pampered, but certainly crestfallen young men for whom the usual safety valves of dissoluteness have for some reason failed to open.” He goes on,

      We should remember this when we rail against the morals of the young. Next time we are honked at by a stretch-limoload of vomiting adolescents we should give a little prayer of thanks. As long as they’re out on the town pissed they’re not in their rooms drawing up plans to blow up aeroplanes. Ditto sex. Here’s hoping they’re getting as much of that as they can handle, too. It’s not a 100 per cent proof, but, in the main, intercourse is a great solvent of ideology. Whatever you think of the pure in mind, beware, reader, the pure in body.

      Sounds like he’s joking, but there’s plenty of evidence to support his point. Any criminologist will confirm that the great bulk of crime in America is committed by unmarried young men. The best way to turn a criminal away from crime is for him to get hitched to a woman and become a father (though there’s surely a strong cause/effect conflation in that one).

      The underwear bomber appears to have been just another lonely, horny, frustrated young man feeling bitter and disconnected — the perfect victim for an ideology that promises to make him a hero with all the admiring female attention he could want. If young men are designed by evolution to be obsessed with sex, like dogs in heat, you’ve got to wonder what kinds of destructive energies are created and compounded by ideologies telling them these feelings are shameful — feelings common to both Islamic and Christian fundamentalism.

      If our distorted relationship with human sexuality is the source of much of this frustration, confusion, and ignorance, societies with less conflicted views should confirm the causal connection. Developmental neuropsychologist James Prescott found that bodily pleasure and violence seem to have an either/or relationship—the presence of one inhibits development of the other. In 1975, Prescott published a paper in which he argued that “certain sensory experiences during the formative periods of development will create a neuropsychological predisposition for either violence-seeking or pleasure-seeking behaviors later in life.” On the level of individual development, this finding seems obvious: adults who abuse children were almost always victims of childhood abuse themselves, and every junkyard owner knows that if you want a mean dog, beat the puppy.

      Prescott applied this logic on a cross-cultural level. He performed a meta-analysis of previously gathered data on the amount of physical affection shown to infants (years of breastfeeding, percentage of time in direct physical contact with mother, being fondled and played with by other adults) and overall tolerance for adolescent sexual behavior. After comparing these data with levels of violence within and between societies, Prescott concluded that in all but one of the cultures for which these data were available (forty-eight of forty-nine), “deprivation of body pleasure throughout life—but particularly during the formative periods of infancy, childhood, and adolescence—is very closely related to the amount of warfare and interpersonal violence.” Cultures that don’t interfere in the physical bonding between mother and child or prohibit the expression of adolescent sexuality show far lower levels of violence—both between individuals and between societies.

      A world full of angry, frustrated, isolated young men with nothing and no one to live for is a very dangerous place.

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      Those Judicial Commissions Really Protect Their Own

      Those Judicial Commissions Really Protect Their Own

      Filed under: California, Corrupt Judges, Judge Peter McBrien — justice4mothers @ 7:25 pm

      This is nice.  California Judge Peter J. McBrien is finally punished, but they might as well have held a party for him.  A “rebuke” is hardly a punishment.  Fire his butt.  Well, there’s always next time….he is still out their on the bench ready to screw with you.  From the Sacramento Bee:

      Superior Court Judge Peter McBrien was censured Tuesday by the Commission on Judicial Performance. The commission in particular cited McBrien for halting a divorce trial without telling anyone.

      State commission rebukes Sacramento judge McBrien

      By Andy Furillo
      afurillo@sacbee.com

      Published: Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3B
      Last Modified: Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010 – 8:00 am

      California’s judicial disciplinarians pounded a Sacramento jurist just about as hard as they could Tuesday, slapping him with an order of public censure over his “manifestly unjudicial” handling of a 2006 divorce case.

      The worst thing the state Commission on Judicial Performance could have done to Sacramento Superior Court Judge Peter J. McBrien would have been to kick him off the bench. Short of that, the public censure is the most severe penalty at the commission’s disposal.

      In what figures to be the end of a disciplinary matter that goes back a year and a half, the commission said McBrien acted “suddenly and precipitously,” in a manner “prejudicial to public esteem for the judicial office.”

      He was “patently unreasonable” and acted “without proper justification,” the commission found, in a fashion that would “constitute prejudicial misconduct and willful misconduct.”

      At times, McBrien’s “self-serving statements and testimony” to the commission during its investigation were “shown to be inaccurate,” the panel found, which reflected his “arrogant indifference toward these proceedings.”

      “We conclude that a severe public censure is warranted based on the gravity of this misconduct, coupled with Judge McBrien’s pervasive lack of accountability and insight into the impropriety of his conduct,” the commission concluded.

      Tuesday’s 34-page ruling resulted from charges filed with the commission over McBrien’s hasty March 9, 2006, termination of the divorce case Carlsson vs. Carlsson.

      The judge, who was not available for comment Tuesday, drew the sharpest rebuke from the commission for ending the trial before all the evidence was in. As a result, his ultimate decision in the case was overturned by the state’s 3rd District Court of Appeal.

      The commission also criticized the judge for improperly threatening to hold the lawyer for one of the litigants, Ulf Carlsson, a former state Department of General Services construction manager, in contempt of court.

      McBrien had asked the lawyer, Sharon Huddle, to obtain her client’s Statement of Economic Interests and give it to the court. When she hesitated on grounds it might incriminate Carlsson, he raised the possibility of the contempt finding.

      McBrien overstepped his role as a judge and acted as an investigator “embroiled” in the case, the commission said, when he ordered up transcripts of Carlsson’s trial testimony and sent them to the construction manager’s bosses at DGS. Carlsson had testified about his private financial relationship with a real estate developer who did business with the agency.

      Finally, the commission said McBrien repeatedly demeaned Carlsson’s lawyer throughout the litigation.

      James A. Murphy, the San Francisco attorney who represented McBrien at the commission proceedings, called the decision of censure “pretty embarrassing for Judge McBrien, to say the least.”

      “He obviously is very remorseful,” Murphy said. “He wishes this matter had not transpired the way it did. He would have handled it differently under the circumstances if he was confronted with the case again. At the time, he did what he thought was appropriate under the circumstances.”

      Murphy said McBrien, a family law specialist, has handled 40,000 cases in a career that dates back more than 20 years.

      Murphy suggested that the crush of cases in family law court and statistics that show that Sacramento County does not have enough judges to handle the number of filings contributed to the judge’s poor decision-making.

      The key problem in the case was McBrien’s decision to end the trial – which had exceeded the two-day time frame he set aside for it – without telling anyone, according to the commission’s finding.

      Toward the end of the trial, the judge, who was on call to act on emergency protective orders sought by law enforcement, stepped down from the bench to handle such a request while a witness for Carlsson was on the stand. Phone records showed McBrien took about three minutes to handle the request for the order, the commission found.

      But he never came back to the bench that day, and his clerk told the lawyers the trial was over.

      Carlsson declined to comment Tuesday, but he previously has said that if the commission did not remove McBrien from the bench, he would appeal to the California Supreme Court.

      Tuesday’s censure represented the second time the commission has taken action against McBrien.

      It admonished him in 2002 for cutting down trees near his house on the American River Parkway.

      The commission also found that his testimony in the current case did not square with the statements he made to commission investigators in the 2002 matter.

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