Justice is NOT served

I read a very disturbing story the other day about a former Alabama judge who was indicted for sexually abusing inmates in exchange for leniency of prison sentences. http://www.foxnews.com/ Herman Thomas was a well-respected judge until allegations of his bizarre sexual proclivities surfaced, allegations that included "spanking and paddling" of inmates in his offices among other things. Charges of kidnapping, sodomy, sex abuse, extortion and ethics violations brought this judge down and he now faces 20 years to life in prison for the most serious charges of kidnapping and sodomy.

Based on what I have learned, I can't help but think how many judges there may be that allow their personal feelings on varying issues (or in this case, sexual deviances) to cloud their judgment on making decisions about cases.

Let's use allegations of alcohol abuse in divorce cases as an example of why I believe judges may look the other way when this type of subject matter is brought up (or not) in court.

In 2007, my son (who was 7 at the time) came home with a nip vodka bottle in his pants pocket, given to him by my ex-husband who is an alcoholic. The bottle contained about a 1/4 inch of vodka in it. (After his colon cancer diagnosis a year ago, my ex-husband claims he no longer drinks). My son told me he never drank anything out of the bottle and I believed him but I pretty much went off the deep end when I found this in my son's pants and told my ex husband in no uncertain terms that I was going to take him to court and ask for a modification of custody. I wanted full custody and I was going to ask for supervised visitation. My ex husband retaliated by stopping his child support to me which put me into a nightmarish abyss of debt from which I have yet to recover. He also stopped his visitation. I filed contempt charges against him, garnished his paycheck and the DOR grabbed his bank account for what he owed me in arrearages.

But when I went in front of the judge for my case - she presides in Middlesex Probate & Family Court - and told my side about the vodka bottle, also told her my ex-husband had a warrant out for his arrest in Pennsylvania for a failure to appear on a drunk driving charge and other numerous occasions when my ex would show up drunk and attempt to take his son and I would not allow him to do so. I then pulled out the vodka bottle, she very nonchalantly turned to my ex-husband and stated, "If you want to have a cocktail or two when you get home from work, it's OK. Just don't drink when you have your son." And then she reminded me that no matter what, I have to adhere to the visitation schedule and that if I didn't allow my son's father to take him based on the visitation schedule, I could be held in contempt.

It was all I could do not to run up to the bench and attack her. I was shaking with fury at her blase attitude toward my little boy's safety.

When I had time to think, I realized that perhaps this particular judge had a drinking problem and hid it well. She, too, probably drives drunk with people in her car but somehow has managed to drive under the radar of police detection. Or perhaps she has been caught and it's been hushed up and smoothed over with something the color of green.

Another Massachusetts judge wasn't so lucky. Christine McEvoy, a judge in Massachusetts Superior Court http://www.tomkileylaw.com/ was pulled over last April for an OUI. She was fined $665, received a driver's license suspension for 225 days and was ordered to attend a drinking and driving education program. And this judge REFUSED to take a breathalyzer test. And in another related story, she stated she would remove herself from drunk driving cases to which she was assigned.

Oh gee, isn't that mighty noble of you.

Two cases of Massachusetts judges - one who ignored my pleas to protect my son - and another who simply ignored the laws governing drunk driving and put people in danger of her stupidity.

Both are still sitting on the bench today. How many more of these above the law judges are sitting on the benches?

Now let me change gears and bring up another situation. A good friend of mine recently went through a fairly bitter divorce. She has a retirement account, and since her separation from her now ex-husband, has been forced for financial purposes to dip into her retirement account to pay monthly living expenses for herself and her son. She is employed but her take home pay is far, far less than what she needs to survive. Her ex-husband moved out and took up residence with his girlfriend, who coincidentally, lives in a home valued at just south of a million dollars and which she owns outright and my friend's ex husband pays no rent whatsoever.

They have a 17-year old who resides with my friend at her home.

At her divorced trial, her ex-husband produced a financial statement which basically showed he did not have a "steady" provable income (he is self-employed) and therefore, the child support awarded to her was based on the flimsy figures he put down on this statement. Her ex-husband apparently was not ordered to contribute to his son's college education, either. Why? No provable income and therefore, the judge couldn't make a calculated guess on how much of a contribution the father should make and therefore allowed the father to get away with not paying anything. Nice guy, huh?

And perhaps the worse slap of all is that the judge ordered my friend to turn over 1/2 of her retirement account to her ex husband, a retirement account to which her ex-husband contributed not one penny over the 20 plus years of marriage.

I get all the "marital assets" laws and blah blah blah. But isn't this where "discretionary judgment" can come into play? Apparently not. Oh, the judge gave her the house that she cannot afford. That makes a whole lot of sense.

There is a lot more to her case than I care to write about because I'd sling some mud that may end up back on me so I am going to refrain from interjecting all of my two cents about this.

But my point is that judges have so much power but yet they choose to ignore facts placed right before their eyes. Are the attorneys to blame for not pushing the envelope close to the judge's faces that they can't ignore the obvious? Or are the attorneys' hands tied so tightly & bound together by the fact that they already know the judges just don't care so they don't even try?

Is our justice system so clogged that a little boy's life is overlooked because a judge think it's OK to have cocktails? Apparently so. Did Judge McEvoy actually think that she was above the law when she got into her car and drove drunk? Apparently so. And did the judge in my friend's divorce case overlook the fact that the financial statement produced by her ex husband was as flimsy as x-rated lingerie? Did the judge even consider for one second that perhaps my friend's ex husband was a con artist, a bullshitter of the highest degree and perhaps take into consideration that he may be hiding assets? Apparently not.

So my friend is now left with a house that she can't afford, a retirement account she has been ordered to "share" with her ex-husband and a son whose college education may be in jeopardy because a judge didn't look more closely at one of the most important documents in the divorce case.

This is why justice is not served. And if it is, it's probably served with a five or six beers, a few cocktails and some bar peanuts. And some cash to keep everyone quiet.