In the Sacramento Bee, a newspaper that serves most of the state of California, I found something incredibly sad but true about the Placer County Judicial System.
“The Placer County judicial system has long been one of the state’s worst. It has the state’s highest rate of disciplinary removal of judges. Lawyers try to avoid it. All this can be traced to the ‘we-do-what-we-want-on-our-plantation’ attitudes of the closed club of local politicians and judges who have controlled the Placer courts for decades.
Placer County supervisors took the advice of judges Frances Kearny and Larry Gaddis and voted to turn Placer’s third-rate system into a fifth-rate one. Unhappy that Public Defender Leonard Tauman has at times placed the interest of his clients before those of the club, they voted to remove him. The replacement is an outfit notorious in legal circles for turning the judicial process into a production line. This was supposed to save money eliminating trials. “-Laurance S. Smith of Newcastle wrote in the paper
People who reside in Placer County know about this “inner circle of the Placer County Judicial System” especially those who have went to court for custody matters.
Numerous people have told me of their nightmares in the Placer County courtrooms and a couple of them I was able to witness first hand. This little ‘clique’ thrives on money… Once you go in for a court order on an obvious ‘no brainer’ case, that in any responsible, trustworthy, court you would have gotten due to overwhelming proof in your favor, you literally spend your life paying for it.
For reasons that will become obvious, I have changed the names of the following two couples. ‘Sheila’ filed for divorce from her husband, ‘John’. They had one child together. During the almost two years (after the 6 month law went in!) that they battled in court, Placer County allowed him to burn their home down, leave the country and threaten to kill her in front of witnesses. She escaped from the marriage, ultimately with her dog and her child. He destroyed everything else she owned. In spite of her best efforts and those of her attorney (who wound up billing both parties for his payment in full and selling his client to the opposition) the case was put off until it was dropped and the divorce finally went through with the father being ordered to pay $75.00 per month child support. He never paid one cent and was never prosecuted.
Marsha left her abusive husband George with their two children. George and his family had tried to force Marsha to abort both children and never treated the kids well at all. Until she left him! Then he lied in court, his mother lied in court and when Marsha provided proof that she was telling the truth, Judge Richard Cousins found for George and gave him custody. George violated a court order and was told not to do it again without getting sanctioned. So, Marsha had panicked after this display of favoritism and ended up violating the same part of the same court order. It is important to note that she was jailed and sentenced to 3 years on strict probation.
The horrifying stories continue (the following are real names but I did extend the courtesy of concealing the last names for privacy reasons) …
David, a Placer County dad, found him and his family right in the middle of it all. After his child’s mother did all of the following: illegally kept his child from him, repeatedly moved against court orders when ever he would get close bringing his child home, not to mention the serious allegations of drug abuse, physical abuse, and emotional abuse by the ‘mother’ toward the child that were substantiated by investigators and psychiatrists, David was still put through the wringer.
In David’s case, he went in to seek justice for the blatant disrespect of the law and his rights as a custodial parent. Not only was the child illegally kept from him, but also every court order had been clearly violated, and during such time his child was mistreated and abused. When the District Attorney located the child it was found that the minor was living under a false name (her mother’s new husband’s name). But when the parties appeared in court it was found that a member of the other party’s family knew a ‘powerful’ (influential) person that was involved in the case.
It was horrid the way local lawyers all talked about this certain little group. Things like “they are God here in Placer” when referring to a Child’s Lawyer and his wife. David’s own lawyers would tell him that since the other party had a personal friendship with one of the people involved that it would damage his case and he might as well give back the child to the abusive mother and walk away. Well, that did not happen I am happy to say. But there was going to be a hefty price to pay for not bowing down to the whims and demands of this tight little Placer County judiciary group.
It was obvious that this one ‘influential friend’ was tipping the tables in her favor. The reports that would come into the courtroom were filled with clearly noticeable lies and all the illegal moves by the ‘other’ party were swept under the carpet. Then the threats began. David was told repeatedly to give up and walk away and each time he refused. So, they ended up putting him through hell by making him attend numerous classes for false allegations which were expensive-but the ‘mother’ did not get inconvenienced with such things even though the allegations against her were substantiated… they made him pay for the supervised visits between his child and her mother (due to the horrible abuse suffered by the child CPS would not allow the child to be left alone with her mom) instead of the normal routine of the abusive party paying for the visits… and the court orders issued during this unfair treatment were absolutely asinine. For instance, if David missed bringing his child to a supervised visit with her mom without cause, he faced jail time and a fine…. But if the abusive parent missed a visit it was acceptable.
But David never gave up, he kept fighting and the other party kept manipulating the system by way of the ‘influential friend’.
Thousands of dollars and a few hard years later David was proved right. He had said from the beginning that the only reason his ‘ex’ had for wanting back their daughter was because she wanted more child support that she rightfully did not deserve. The matter was for the time that she illegally kept the child from him when he had custody (parental abduction). This was against the court order that clearly stated this issue. He did not feel that he should’ve had to pay her for abusing and concealing the child which is all against the law. But, in the end that was basically the price David had to pay for keeping his child safe and having her grow up in a loving environment. After the judge ruled that the ‘other party’ was to collect over $18,000 from David for “child support” for the years the child was kept illegally the mother was as happy as could be and never saw the child again she voluntarily cut off communication with the child she used as a pawn. Money was apparently the main issue, and it always was.
Still to this day David pays child support every month, and his tax returns are taken way from him and given to his ‘ex’ even though he has had full physical/legal custody for 8 years. Another painful reminder of all the horrors he faced and how wrong this Placer County judicial system really is.
**It is noteworthy to add that FRANCES KEARNEY was the presiding judge in this matter as well.
But, that wasn’t the worst display I have heard about from distraught individuals. Richard and Kathy were married for years and had two daughters together. Richard was a pastor of a local church and Kathy was a seemingly devoted wife. Until the truth came out, she had been inviting women into the home and having sex with them while ‘caring’ for the children. Kathy ended up filing for divorce and got the house, along with everything else including items passed down through Richard’s family for generations.
If this wasn’t bad enough, Kathy petitioned the court to have all visits between Richard and his children supervised. The reason was stated, “Christianity says that homosexuality is a sin and we (meaning Kathy and her lover) don’t want the girls to have to hear that.” The judge agreed, and he was no longer allowed custody of his children.
Richard fought repeatedly with the argument that he was their father, and had never done any harm to them. It is important to note that he did have a clean record and the children wanted to be with their father. Unfortunately, this only led to the horrid path of destruction. The children began coming to the visits and calling him by his birth name and were told that he was no longer their father, instead they were ‘different’ and had two mommies.
It is tragic to tell this part of the story but I believe that it is only right to show the pain that is caused by this kind of cruelty. Richard took his own life shortly after the last court appearance when he pleaded with courts to give him joint custody.
The courts brought in quite a bit of money during these cases alone and all the importance of law was trashed horribly in this blatant display of greed and lies. The criminals not only got away with their crimes but they also got paid for doing them. It is sad, but true.
Imagine all the people who have gotten mistreated and emotionally battered by this joke of a Judicial System, and the sad thing is, they are still allowed to do it.
