Sunday, November 18, 2007

The ex-wife's hearsay

Here is my ex-wife's declaration in support of her application for sole legal and physical custody of our two kids:
I was contacted by Child Protective Services (CPS) last Thursday afternoon regarding my ex-husband's (George) treatment of Mary and Jenny. Someone other than myself had reported him to CPS. Sally Mitchell, a worker at CPS opened case number 271265. phone 454-5058, cell 566-7074. I was told that on Thursday, Ms. Mitchell ...

At this point, I am asking for emergency temporary full custody of the children because George's emotional and physical abusive treatment of the children has escalated, and they are unsafe in his house. ... This behavior is occurring in the face of CPS investigation, where he knows that he is being watched. The children can not sustain their own emotional and physical welfare throughout the week-end.

What events transpired to lead up to this point:

The children told Ms. Mitchell and Mr. Rosse what has been going on at George's home most recently. Ms. Mitchell asked me questions regarding what the children were saying. The children listed off ...

Ms. Mitchell, along with some police officers, arrived at George's home on Friday morning to speak with him about these incidences. From what I gathered about this visit, she tried to make him aware ...

On Wednesday, Ms. Mitchell again went to visit the children at their school, along with Mr. Rosse. The children again told them ... Ms. Mitchell called me to inform me of this visit and what the children reported to her. She told me that she found him to be emotionally abusing the children, and that she was recommending counseling for George and the girls to attend together so that he can work on understanding the wishes of the children.

At this point, Ms. Mitchell had already called George. ...

Jenny has informed me that the two of them have a secret written code which they have memorized so that they can write to each other without George understanding. ... Both children have cell phones, which George does not know they have, and have repeatedly called me ...

I spoke with George on Thursday night about his behavior with the children, but was unable to have any kind of meaningful discussion in which I could be sure that Friday would not be a repeat of Thursday. ...
I omitted the parts that were pure hearsay. Usually, American courts are supposed to ignore hearsay. Witnesses are supposed to testify about their first-hand observations, experiences, and maybe opinions, but they are never supposed to offer someone else's statement for its factual content.

Normally, the court does not want to hear Julie's account of what Sally Mitchell said. It is inadmissible as evidence. If Ms. Mitchell's testimony is relevant, then she should give it directly.

If Comm. Joseph had been doing his job properly, he would have rejected the application because it consists almost entirely of hearsay, conclusory statements, and opinions. Unfortunately, it appears that I will have to spend a lot of time and effort rebutting the false and misleading hearsay.

No comments: