Retired Judge: "I made the mistake myself...."

When retired San Diego Superior Court Judge DeAnn M. Salcido admits she made mistakes because she did not understand domestic violence and the defense ploy of accusing victims of "parental alienation," it is a sign of progress.

Find her blog, Judicial Action Watch Society, here (or click on the title above):
http://www.judicialactionwatchsociety.org/Family_Court_Crisis.html

Her mission is:

. . . to educate the public on how the judicial system is designed to work. Only through education on how to identify systemic failure within the court system will the average citizen be equipped to effectively advocate for court reform . . . .

Complaints against family court specialist go back years

Malcolm Maclachlan's November 3rd article in California's Capitol Weekly, begins:

According to her resume, Janelle Burrill is many things: psychologist, attorney, social worker. To the Sacramento Superior Court, she’s both an approved family court mediator and a special master, a person appointed by the court to make sure judicial orders are followed. She’s also been active in Placer and El Dorado Counties, testifying in numerous cases. But to some critics of California’s family courts system, she’s something else: Exhibit A for what’s wrong with family courts in California.

Her fraudulent claims remind me of David Tassoni, apprentice to Rhode Island Family Court's former Chief Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah, Jr.

Burrill and Tassoni both enjoyed enormous power in secretive family courts though their credentials were not questioned while both actively promoted the discredited legal tactic of "parental alienation" (developed by psychiatrist Richard Gardner, who claimed a status he never held at Columbia University Medical School).

The article expresses surprise at the high prices charged by these court "specialists" citing huge retainers and fees of $200 an hour. That is the same amount charged six years ago by attorney Lise Iwon (now head of the Rhode Island Bar Association) when she worked as guardian ad litem to remove two sisters, 5 and 9 years old, from an excellent mother, using the same bogus argument of "parental alienation" that Burrill and Tassoni liked to use. When she convinced Judge John Mutter to take the girls into state custody, Iwon complained that their mother still owed her $5,000. Before long, Iwon's bill approached $50,000.

Iwon was close friends with Lise Gescheidt, who was criminal defense attorney for the two girls' father. Gescheidt (who now heads the RI Supreme Court's Ethics Advisory Panel) defended her friend Iwon and accused the girls' mother of introducing motions that "slander the professional reputation of a unbiased guardian ad litem who has consistently acted in the best interest of the children without meaningful compensation. . . .” (Italics added.)

These cases are all about money and power, not about determining the "whole truth and nothing but the truth" or the "best interests" of children.

The only family that is reliably served by Family Court are the "sisters and brothers" of the Rhode Island Bar and their former colleagues, now on the Bench, who protect and preserve the Family's interests.

The ease with which Lise Gescheidt and Lise Iwon influenced staff at the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) shows that the Executive Branch is also implicated in this ongoing scandal.

The third branch of government, Rhode Island's General Assembly did the right thing by mandating in 2010 that DCYF must finally get accredited by the internationally recognized Council on Accreditation.

Now we need the General Assembly to turn its attention to Family Court. The many legislators who are also members of the Bar should step back, recuse, and allow their colleagues to conduct an open audit of Family Court costs and services.

More about Lise Iwon's handling of this case is at http://littlehostages.blogspot.com

The Capitol Weekly article on Burrill appears at the link below (or click on the title above):
http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?xid=1040os14pyj1slg

A daughter reveals the unrestrained violence and profanity of her father, Texas judge William Adams

In 2004, Hillary Adams was 16. The daughter of a Texas judge, she set up a camera that recorded her father beating her with unrestrained rage and profanity. She recently posted that video on line here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl9y3SIPt7o

She wrote this caption:

2004: Aransas County Court-At-Law Judge William Adams took a belt to his own teenage daughter as punishment for using the internet to acquire music and games that were unavailable for legal purchase at the time. She has had ataxic cerebral palsy from birth that led her to a passion for technology, which was strictly forbidden by her father's backwards views. The judge's wife was emotionally abused herself and was severely manipulated into assisting the beating and should not be blamed for any content in this video. The judge's wife has since left the marriage due to the abuse, which continues to this day, and has sincerely apologized and repented for her part and for allowing such a thing, long before this video was even revealed to exist. Judge William Adams is not fit to be anywhere near the law system if he can't even exercise fit judgment as a parent himself. Do not allow this man to ever be re-elected again. His "judgment" is a giant farce. Signed, Hillary Adams, his daughter.

Judge Adams' rulings on child abuse allegedly show that:

~He has held that a child should be ignored even if the child reports horrific child abuse.
~He has held that a parent or lawyer who relies on what a child says should be sanctioned.
~He has awarded children to their abusers.

Hillary says she posted the seven-year-old video: “...after a barrage of harassment from my father over the phone, I snapped and finally uploaded it. Now I’m sorry I didn’t do it sooner.”

The outpouring of support and disgust was immediate, with many reaching out to media outlets and local authorities on Hillary’s behalf. She says: ”I hope my father gets everything he deserves.... I’m so glad someone believes me, after all these years…."

Click on the title above to see the county's November 2nd news release:

ARANSAS COUNTY, TEXAS - Judge Burt Mills has today announced that Aransas County is aware of the video posted on YouTube regarding County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams, and the matter is now under review by the Police Department. Please refrain from communication with County offices or the Sheriff's Department on this matter until the review has been completed. Calls, emails, and faxes only create disruptions for other ongoing county business. The public's cooperation would be most appreciated.

As I write this in Rhode Island, I am grateful that our state does not elect judges, and that citizens increasingly come to testify before the Judicial Nominating Commission about candidates being considered for judgeships. But Rhode Island still remains the only state that gives judges lifetime tenure without review.

We need a review process that recognizes how such enormous discretionary power can corrupt our judges--especially in Family Court where judges often ignore standards of evidence, and lawyers can lie with abandon.