Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Watching human misery in court

Sitting in family court was depressing. I saw a man in an orange jumpsuit with handcuffs behind his back listen while his ex-wife argue that she should be able to sell his $750,000 without being bothered to get his signature at the jail. She said that her real estate broker did not like him. She argued about whether he should be allowed 24 or 48 hours to get everything out of the house. He sat there crying like a baby, and not even his own lawyer would listen to him when he wanted to ask a question.

I saw a woman try to get a default judgment against a man for not showing up. Somehow the judge figured out that he didn't show up because she had him put in a jail across the street.

I saw a man complain that he was unable to pay his child support judgment. The judge granted him a hearing, but suggest that he get a lawyer, because he'll be going to jail if he loses.

I saw a man lose his kids as his wife got permission to move them to Arizona. The critical factor seemed to be one isolated incident in which they had a fight and the man slapped his wife once or twice. She called police but did not press charges. The DA prosecuted anyway, and he spent a week or so in jail. I never figured out how the fight was related to the Arizona move.

I saw a man try to convince a judge that he needs medical marijuana. While his argument seemed very weak to me, it also seemed like his wife was just using his personal vices to keep him from seeing his kids.

I saw a father beg to the court for an opportunity to visit his child for 2 hours every 2 weeks. The judge agreed, provided that the second hour is supervised by Jay Muccilli, a kooky local psychologist. The mother protested, and wanted him limited to a 1-hour supervised visit.

I don't see how the judges, lawyers, and psychologists sleep at night. They are all profiting off human misery.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mucilli is so jaded and makes all decisions based on sterotypical conclusions. He is not fair for mother, father and especially child. Why are they allowed to work forever? Shouldn't they have a drop dead day when they need to retire? Why are men the phsycologists and women are the court mediators. Sexist? All have been around forever and "know everything". The judge will never disagree with any of them. Who is running the show anyway? The system really sucks.

Anonymous said...

All I have to say to all of these men is PAY YOUR CHILD SUPPORT AND ALIMONY.

Maybe if you quit being deadbeats you wouldn't go to jail.