Update and new developement

[hagatha]

Soc,

My D went to court to extend the RO. It was granted mainly because the defendant wrote more than 50 letters to her after this Judge issued the RO. Kinda pissed him off. That an the 10 yr stay away order from the criminal court.

Initally he was given a choice between an agreed order without admission of guilt, or a trial. He was leaning towards a trial until the Judge explained D would be able to use the letters he wrote as evidence and that if the Judge found those letters credable evidence he could choose to charge him with contempt and each letter would be a seperate count, and each count could carry a 6 month sentence. The Judge urged him to "Make the right decision and not piss him off".

The main difference between an RO and a stay away oeder, at least here is;

If a defendant violates an RO the police can be called and an arrest can be immediately made. If the defendant is not there when the police arrive they issue a warrent and wait till he is picked up.

If a defendant violates a stay away order, the victim must contact the DA's office who then contacts the Judge that issued the order, who then contact the parol/probation officer and issues an order for the sherriff to pick him up.

The defendant was also instructed by the family court Judge to cease any communication with or concerning the baby until his release.  Which pretty much killed his petition for visitation.

All good for us at the moment.

On a different note.
This defendant also has a son by a different mother. That child is in the custody of the grandparents as the mother died of cancer shortly after the boy was born. The boy will be 5 yrs old in march.

Today the mother found letters written to the deceased mother apoligizing for the abuse he did to her. And was told recently by her neighbors, the defendant had written letters to them asking for their help to kidnap his son and flee the state. (not the sharpest crayon in the box)

Questions:

1 Can the other grandmother use the letters and testimony of her neighbors to ask the DA's office to charge him with conspirity(sp) to kidnap?

2. The other grandparents are attempting to have the court grant them sole physical and legal custody. Can they use these letters to not only gain the custody action they seek, but terminate his custodial rights?

3. Can my D use this information also to petition to terminate and step parent adopt?

Thanks,
the Witch

Remember . . . KARMA is a Wonderful Thing!!!!!

[socrateaser]

>Questions:
>
>1 Can the other grandmother use the letters and testimony of
>her neighbors to ask the DA's office to charge him with
>conspirity(sp) to kidnap?

Conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit an crime. Since the defendant is the only person involved, requesting help in kidnapping the child, there is no conspiracy, because there's no agreement and only one person involved.

However, solicitation is encouraging another person to commit a crime, and here the letters apparently asking for help kidnapping the child could be a solicitation. The crime of soliciation is complete at the moment the request is made, therefore this would be a soliciation, unless the defendant actually had the legal right to remove the child from the state, in which case it would be a legal impossibility, i.e., a solicitation of an act that is not a crime, therefore the solicitation would also not be a crime.

But, assuming that the defendant doesn't have the right to move the child, then this would be criminal, and the letters would be evidence.

What I'm getting at is if the grandparents never obtained a court order for custody, then the defendant could delegate his legal custody to them and thereby move the child, without breaking any law.

>2. The other grandparents are attempting to have the court
>grant them sole physical and legal custody. Can they use these
>letters to not only gain the custody action they seek, but
>terminate his custodial rights?

The letters are interesting, and I think custody is a fairly good bet, but as for termination of parental rights, it's really difficult to say. You'll need a hearing, and the father, even if in jail, has a right to be brought to that hearing to make his case for mainting his parental rights.

>
>3. Can my D use this information also to petition to terminate
>and step parent adopt?

Possibily, but courts don't terminate parent rights very often, so I'm not making any bets.