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23.4.10

Police Investigating Lake Jackson Murder-Suicide Man Killed Wife in a Custody Dispute

Kristy Gillentine, KIAH StaffKIAH

LAKE JACKSON - A battle between divorcees turned deadly Wednesday night in Lake Jackson when a man killed his ex-wife and wounded his ex-step-daughter, then killed himself, police said.

Neighbors reported hearing shots fired at about 8:20 p.m. Wednesday in the 100 block of Post Oak. While Lake Jackson Police were en route, they learned that two people had been shot and the shooter had fled in a vehicle that was being followed by one of the neighbors.

"This family had some really good neighbors," Lake Jackson Police Lt. Paul Kibodeaux said. "We got a lot of calls on this and were able to respond quickly and to the right locations thanks to their updates and information."

The pursuing neighbor led police to their location with updates on his cell phone, officials said. The chase ended when the shooter – identified as 42-year-old Curtis Maynard – turned the gun on himself while driving, police said.

Officials said Maynard's vehicle left the roadway, swerved back and struck another vehicle, then came to rest on the opposite side of the highway at 499 Highway 288 North.

Back at the home in the 100 block of Post Oak, investigators found two victims. Maynard's ex-wife – 34-year-old Melissa Meza – was dead with multiple gunshot wounds, police said. Meza's 16-year-old daughter was also shot. She was life-flighted to Memorial Hermann Hospital in critical condition, police said. According to officials, her condition had stabilized Thursday.

Two younger children of Meza and Maynard were also in the home. They ran to a neighbor's house when gunfire erupted and are now being cared for by family members, police said.

According to investigators, Maynard and Meza had been divorced for about one year and Maynard was unhappy with the situation.

"He was very unhappy with the divorce and how things were going for him, but as far as anything out of the ordinary recently, we haven't heard of anything." Kibodeaux said. "It's a very tragic situation, and very sad for the kids involved."

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Tennessee Men’s Rights Lawmakers Continue Child Severing Bill

From the Parenting News Network™

Men's rights lawmakers planning law to take children from mothers as much as they can get away with.

Despite the opposition fromwomen’s groups, judges, and the Tennessee Bar Association, the men’s rights lawmakers continue their attempts to impose harmful custody and divorce laws on women and children. There seems to be no thought involved that this will lead to more deaths of women and children who will be unable to escape from abusive situations. Despite the token wording “except for in cases with abuse” as often put in custody bills to placate the domestic violence coalitions, this provision does NOT work because it is nearly impossible to prove abuse with the horde of father’s rights attorneys and hired-gun experts who for a fee will malign the victim and undermine her credibility to the point where the victim is declared to either be a liar or mentally ill. This goes on every day in every state in family court. It’s America’s dirty little secret that women and children are treated just as badly in the United States if not worse than other more progressive countries.

This new custody bill is calling for 50/50 forced custody for children unless the parents can agree on their own plan. It seems the vast majority of divorces with children do create their own schedule per the Tennessee Bar Association’s report on joint custody dated March 23, 2010. So this custody bill is the WORST idea ever as parents who can’t agree generally have a reason and it is usually abuse. The abuser will claim to be falsely accused and say that the protective parent is an “alienator.” The whole scenario repeats itself in case after case with horrible results that are going largely ignored in this fatherhood-exalting, mother-hating society. Please take the opportunity to view clips from a recent Dr. Phil show on the custody crisis.

Dr. Phil: Crisis in Family Court

Dr. Phil with Kathleen Russell and Amy Leichtenberg on children being killed by family court orders

Mothers who fear for their children’s safety are being ordered under threat of losing their children or going to jail to turn their children over to abusive fathers. The worst case scenario has occurred many times over. So why are the Tennessee men’s rights lawmakers pushing for a law that will only serve to help abusive men have access to children?

This bill has all male sponsors, Mike Bell, Stacey Campfield, G.A. Hardaway, Dewayne Bunch, and Bill Ketron. Tennessee does not have 50/50 representation of lawmakers, as in 50% men and 50% women so that it might be possible to actually represent women more appropriately. Tennessee has 8 female Senators out of 33, and 15 female Representatives out of 99. That is 24% female representation in the Senate and 15% in the House. There needs to be a law passed requiring that women have equal representation. The mother-child bond needs to be adequately protected and women’s contribution of risking maternal death to bring another life into the world should not minimized. Tennessee is ranked 38th among the states for maternal health. Out of 100,000 births, about 12 women will die in childbirth. That risk is only taken by the mother, no one else, she bears that risk alone in bringing her child into the world. Besides risking death in childbirth, pregnant women are also at risk of being killed by the father of the child. Homicide is the leading cause of death of pregnant women (Chang, Berg and Herndon 2005). So instead of passing a bill that would help women protect themselves and their children, the sponsors of this custody bill want to make it next to impossible for women and children to be free from an abusive situation.

The best arrangement for a child is an individual one that brings the most happiness and stability to the child and doesn’t serve to reduce the child to property that is divided like real estate. Also, give mothers the credit they deserve as they are the ones who can best determine whether there is an abusive situation.

The custody bill failed in the House, but has been placed on Senate Judicial Committee calendar for 04/27/2010.

Please contact your Tennessee Senators and tell them your opinion on this bill. Click here for contact information

Also read Tennessee Lawmakers Impose 50/50 Child Splitting

And 88 Killer Dads: Fathers who ended their children’s lives in situations involving child custody, visitation, and/or child support (USA)

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One Response to “Tennessee Men’s Rights Lawmakers Continue Child Severing Bill”

rj says:

April 23, 2010 at 10:30 am

face it. states that imposed 50-50 custody don’t give a shit about children or families, merely by this fact:

“It seems the vast majority of divorces with children do create their own schedule”

So, although most families create their own arrangements post divorce, a small group of vocal men shall have it see fit that ALL families submit to how the government thinks a family should operate. I would almost believe that these men were all Republican–but I thought Repubs wanted LESS govt involvement in the family.

Shit, maybe children should be represent children’s issues in our government, 50% women is no guarantee that they won’t be the same second wives and girlfriend-father supporters.

Tennessee judges and lawmakers want to pass the buck instead of investigating the real problem.

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22.4.10

Tell the Child that Sex Abuse by the Father is Normal; Parental Alienation a Phony Disorder: NOW Foundation Opposes

NOW Foundation Opposes Phony Parental Alienation Disorder

Parenting News Network™

Over the years, hundreds of women have contacted National Organization for Women chapters looking for assistance in their efforts to protect minor children in family court custody proceedings. Often these women have been accused of a phony psychiatric condition, termed Parental Alienation Disorder (PAD). The “disorder” has been proposed by so-called father’s rights (men’s custody) activists to be added to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostics and Statistics Manual – V to give it more legitimacy than it currently has — or should have — in court.

This accusation is made by abusive ex-husbands and is intended to cause the courts to disregard mothers’ claims of fathers’ physical or sexual abuse in an effort to gain the fathers’ full or joint custody. NOW Foundation is concerned that because of the alienation accusation known batterers and child abusers have been awarded custody; the numbers of cases involving dads in custody disputes abusing and murdering children is appalling. (See link below)

The notion of a parental alienation in custody disputes was advanced by the late Dr. Richard Gardner who committed suicide in 2003. The alienation accusation has been embraced by men’s custody activists as an effective weapon to undermine mothers’ bid for legal custody of minor children. Many advocates on behalf of mothers believe that batterers, child abusers and pedophiles populate these men’s custody networks. There have been numerous instances of documented batterers and child abusers being awarded custody by biased family court judges.

NOW Foundation has sent a letter recently to the American Psychiatric Association noting that publications by the American Bar Association and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges have concluded proposed “alienation disorder” is inadmissible in court and has been discredited by the scientific community. Accordingly, family court judges, lawyers and other court personnel should take action against the use of the alienation accusation in cases before them. Read NOW Foundation’s letter (PDF) and for more information on family court issues, go to the family law website.

More information on fathers and ex-partners involved in child custody or child support matters who have killed children, murdered mothers and/or committed suicide, please visit this website.

From the NOW Foundation

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Announcing The Publication Of DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, ABUSE, AND CHILD CUSTODY Legal Strategies and Policy Issues Edited by Mo Therese Hannah, Ph.D. and Barry Goldstein, J.D

Announcing the Publication of

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, ABUSE, AND CHILD CUSTODY
Legal Strategies and Policy Issues
Edited by Mo Therese Hannah, Ph.D. and Barry Goldstein, J.D.

Description of the Book Table of Contents Book Reviews FAQ Contact the Editors

How We Know the Custody Courts Are Broken Advocating for Change: What to Tell Judges

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Battered Mothers Custody Conference Barrygoldstein.net

In a trend that started in the 1980s, and increasingly since then, family court judges across the U.S. have ordered thousands and thousands of children into unsupervised visitation with abusive biological fathers. In many cases, mothers have been domestiv Violence, abuse and child custody denied any form of custody, with some losing all contact with their children. In the last few years, attorneys and social service advocates have met to address this issue at the annual Battered Mother’s Custody Conference. This book brings together the expertise and perspective of more than thirty contributors to BMCC in a comprehensive resource that arms advocates with the best thinking and most effective legal strategies in the battle to protect mothers and families from a system that often fails to address abuse and sometimes actually worsens the problem.

Domestic Violence, Abuse, and Child Custody presents insights and hands-on practice guidance from the leading experts on child custody cases that involve intimate partner violence and child abuse. Chapter authors address the prevalence of these problems, the complex reasons why protective mothers lose custody of their children, the things court agents and other professionals often do that contribute to bad outcomes, and the corrective measures that must be put into place to ensure legal protections for abused women and their children.

Understand the harm caused by all types of abusive behavior, whether physical, verbal, financial, legal, or other forms.
Guide the representation of protective mothers through research, case law, and consultation to improve case outcomes.
Establish the paramount importance of children’s safety beyond all other priorities that may emerge in a child custody case.
Provide judges with new insight into the dynamics of violence, recognize when experts and other types of witnesses are providing testimony based on myths, stereotypes, and discredited theories, and provide an empirically based, real-world rationale for orders emphasizing the safety of protective mothers and the accountability of batterers.

Written with the expressed goal of helping battered mothers assert their rights to a safe family life free from violence, the contributors to this book take a firm stand against so-called “balanced” points of view that attempt to explain or justify abusive behavior. This book is grounded in the belief that battering is never justified, and batterers are not entitled to “equal rights” to custody when the safety of a child is in question. Advocates who share that view will find this book a uniquely compelling ally in protecting and defending the rights of battered mothers.

©Civic Research Institute • P.O. Box 585, Kingston, NJ 08528
Tel: 609-683-4450 • Fax: 609-683-7291
Email: order@civicresearchinstitute.com

Description of the Book Table of Contents Book Reviews FAQ Contact the Editors

How We Know the Custody Courts Are Broken Advocating for Change: What to Tell Judges

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Battered Mothers Custody Conference Barrygoldstein.net

Announcing The Publication Of
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, ABUSE, AND CHILD CUSTODY
Legal Strategies and Policy Issues
Edited by Mo Therese Hannah, Ph.D. and Barry Goldstein, J.D.
Available April 2010 from Civic Research Institute

©Site Design by Liliane H. Miller 2010

WordPress Tags: DOMESTIC,VIOLENCE,ABUSE,CHILD,CUSTODY,Legal,Policy,Therese,Hannah,Barry,Goldstein,Publication,Description,Book,Table,Contents,Contact,Editors,Courts,Broken,Change,Tell,Judges,National,Coalition,Against,Conference,Barrygoldstein,trend,children,cases,Mother,expertise,perspective,BMCC,resource,system,guidance,Chapter,prevalence,problems,measures,Understand,behavior,Guide,representation,consultation,Establish,importance,Provide,testimony,myths,world,rationale,orders,Written,goal,rights,life,belief,__________________________________________________________________________________________,Civic,Research,Institute,Kingston,Email,Available,April,Site,Design,Liliane,Miller,Strategies,fathers,contributors,authors,agents,outcomes,protections,theories,thousands,batterers

Announcing The Publication Of DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, ABUSE, AND CHILD CUSTODY Legal Strategies and Policy Issues Edited by Mo Therese Hannah, Ph.D. and Barry Goldstein, J.D

Announcing the Publication of

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, ABUSE, AND CHILD CUSTODY
Legal Strategies and Policy Issues
Edited by Mo Therese Hannah, Ph.D. and Barry Goldstein, J.D.

Description of the Book Table of Contents Book Reviews FAQ Contact the Editors

How We Know the Custody Courts Are Broken Advocating for Change: What to Tell Judges

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Battered Mothers Custody Conference Barrygoldstein.net

Understand the harm caused by all types of abusive behavior, whether physical, verbal, financial, legal, or other forms.
Guide the representation of protective mothers through research, case law, and consultation to improve case outcomes.
Establish the paramount importance of children’s safety beyond all other priorities that may emerge in a child custody case.
Provide judges with new insight into the dynamics of violence, recognize when experts and other types of witnesses are providing testimony based on myths, stereotypes, and discredited theories, and provide an empirically based, real-world rationale for orders emphasizing the safety of protective mothers and the accountability of batterers.

©Civic Research Institute • P.O. Box 585, Kingston, NJ 08528
Tel: 609-683-4450 • Fax: 609-683-7291
Email: order@civicresearchinstitute.com

Description of the Book Table of Contents Book Reviews FAQ Contact the Editors

How We Know the Custody Courts Are Broken Advocating for Change: What to Tell Judges

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Battered Mothers Custody Conference Barrygoldstein.net

©Site Design by Liliane H. Miller 2010

(KS) Domestic Violence has thousands of faces though many are masked by Fear

Act to prevent domestic violence

Recommend (1)

Domestic violence has thousands of faces in Kansas, though many are masked by fear, isolation and ignorance.

Former Attorney General Robert Stephan recalls telling an audience that he wished state lawmakers demonstrated as much compassion for women as for abused dogs — to which a man in the audience helpfully remarked that dogs cannot protect themselves, but women can.

Such attitudes are at odds with the facts, including that 48 adults and children died in domestic violence last year in Kansas, constituting more than 25 percent of all murders.

And even when those threatened by domestic violence try to protect themselves, the abuser may beat the system.

That's what happened when Karen Kahler's estranged husband repeatedly defied a protective order last year and allegedly assaulted and harassed her; James Kraig Kahler is now charged with killing his wife, their two teenage daughters and his grandmother-in-law in Burlingame over Thanksgiving weekend.

Or consider Rosa Gomez and the co-worker killed last fall in Salina by her ex-husband, who had flouted a protection order three times.

Or Jennie Jacobsen, stabbed to death in Lyons in November — allegedly by a boyfriend with a protective order against him who was on probation after serving prison time for beating another woman.

In hindsight, the facts of such fatal domestic violence couldn't be more clear. It's harder to recognize the signs and act accordingly before it's too late.

Even Denise Brown managed to miss or disregard what was happening to her sister Nicole Brown Simpson until after she was murdered in 1994 — a crime that led to ex-husband O.J. Simpson's famous trial and miraculous acquittal.

As Denise Brown told a crowd Tuesday at a fundraiser for the Wichita Women's Initiative Network: "We were at these places where the abuse was taking place, and we didn't know it was happening."

As she also said: "Something has to change."

Awareness-raising occasions such as this Kansas Crime Victims' Rights Week and Sexual Assault Awareness Month can help, spreading the word that Kansans in abusive situations should contact law enforcement or call 888-END-ABUSE.

And after a two-year push led by the parents of slain University of Kansas law student and women's studies graduate Jana Mackey, the Legislature recently passed a law to better quantify and track the problem by tagging criminal case files that include elements of domestic violence.

"Frankly, I thought this would be a piece of cake," Stephan said Tuesday, marveling at the effort involved in passing the law as it was signed for a ceremonial second time by Gov. Mark Parkinson.

The advocates of the new law deserve credit for their tenacity. It will take more advocacy, tenacity, vigilance and, inevitably, resources to turn domestic violence into an ugly thing of the past in Kansas.

— For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman

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21.4.10

Judge Holds Mother in Contempt; Refuses to Hold Scheduled Custody Hearing

From: Parenting News Network™

Apr192010

Daytona Beach – A mother who has been separated from her children for more than three years was denied a hearing today to reunite with them and instead was held in contempt by a Volusia County judge.

Linda Marie Sacks, an Ormond Beach mother, arrived this morning at the City Island Courthouse in Daytona Beach for a scheduled hearing (Case 2004-30312 FMCI) asking for unsupervised visitations and total contact with her daughters, ages 13 and 15. But Volusia County Family Court Judge Shawn L. Briese declined to hold the hearing, which had been on the trial court schedule for six months, and demanded instead that Sacks submit to a deposition by the opposing counsel during the scheduled hearing time.

Sacks filed for divorce in 2004 after her daughters began acting out sexually. The eldest daughter, at age 8, drew a picture of the father as an erect penis during a therapy session and made a disclosure during Sunday School that she had performed a sex act on her father. Sacks has spent six years in the family court trying unsuccessfully to protect her daughters.

Justice for Children, a Houston-based national child advocacy organization, has written a letter to Volusia County law enforcement authorities, including Department of Children and Family Administrator Reggie Williams, expressing concern that the allegations of sexual and physical abuse of Sacks’ daughters was never properly investigated.

In April 2007 Judge Briese (Case 2004-30312-FMCI) ruled that the child lied, gave the father sole physical custody of the daughters and placed the mother on supervised visitation. In the last three years, Sacks has had only 63 hours with her daughters at the The Family Tree House Visitation Center in Daytona Beach.

In 2008 the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeals in Daytona Beach reversed that decision,(Case 5D07-1682) and ruled that Judge Briese had abused his trial court discretion, violated the mother’s due process rights and ordered the custody case be retried in the lower court. Despite the appeals court ruling and numerous motions to have him removed from the case, Judge Briese has continued to deny Sacks full-contact with her children.

Instead, just a few months after the Fifth District Court of Appeals ruling, Judge Briese quickly set another custody hearing, denied to admit any of the mother’s evidence or witnesses and again ruled that Sacks be allowed only supervised visits with her daughters.

Sacks, this time as a pro se litigant, has again filed an appeal with the Fifth District Court (Case 5D09-3752). Recently, the appeals court denied the father’s attorney’s motion to strike the mother’s appeal brief. Within days the father’s attorneys, James L. Rose and Leonard R. Ross of Daytona Beach, filed a subpoena in the lower court demanding Sacks appear for a lengthy deposition and filed a motion to end the mother’s two-hour a month supervised visit with her children.

Florida Rules of Civil Procedures Rule 1.310 (d) dictates that a deposition being used to harass a party can be terminated. Rule 1.290 (2) also states that a party cannot be forced into a deposition 20 days before a hearing.

Sacks was found to be in contempt of court after she refused to take part in the deposition and only asked that she be able to have her hearing time.

During the hearing today, Judge Briese at first agreed with the mother’s filed objection to the deposition saying the Ross has had years to take the deposition. But when the Ross complained that the mother is speaking to national organizations about the case, Judge Briese changed his mind and demanded Sacks submit to the deposition.

Judge Briese said today that the mother will not be heard about being reunited with her children until she does submit. The hearing to see her children was scheduled for three days.

The mother will be back at the courthouse at 1:00 P.M. in hopes that hearing will be allowed to begin, but has already been told by the trial court judge, if you don’t allow the deposition, you will not get your scheduled hearing time.

Today Sacks filed an emergency motion to request a hearing before the Seventh Judicial Circuit Chief Judge J. David Walsh to ask that Judge Briese be disqualified from the case but was denied by Judge Briese.

Read more about Sacks’ battle to protect her children in the January 2010 MomLogic magazine article.

Custody Crisis: Why Mothers Are Punished in Family Court

Is Judge Briese trying to violate this mother’s right to free speech and punish her for speaking to national organizations?

For more on the cover up of child abuse read about the long history of this denial of reality in the meticulously detailed book by Lynn Sacco called Unspeakable.

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