justice’s posterous

Note to the media pundits: do you have any more speculations to make about the economy? The lawyer for the ex-wife called James Kraig Kahler (city official J. Kraig Kahler), who nevertheless was being given custody and visitation rights, an "absolute monster" who was "rigid and controlling" and "emotionally abused the girls". Bail has been set at $10 million. Too late. http://www.fox4kc.com/wdaf-kahler-murders-lawyer-120109,0,7315787.story

Paul Martikainen aka Kristian Turunen had a history of being abusive. Nevertheless, he was given court-ordered visitation with a toddler. Why. Why why why why why why why. http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20091128/BREAKINGNEWS/91128014/1006/news01/Police+looking+for+dad+in+abduction Read more at http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/ Read more about fatherhood and child custody issues at the liz library

UPDATE: and, apparently, a criminal record, including aliases:  http://www.wftv.com/news/21764062/detail.html What in heck were you thinking, Judge Charles J. Roberts, giving this man visitation with a toddler? Any visitation at all. Even supervised.  Why? He's a role model?  Nurturing?  Do you think the kid needs to spend time with him?  It's doubtful.  For whose benefit was this? We've got to get off this fatherhood exaltation nonsense already. The man's got a long rap sheet.  Drugs. Dangerous. A liar. An abuser. He's got one fit parent; that ought to be enough for the State. The mother expresses her fear and concern (albeit mothers with concern about fathers generally are accorded the credibility of dried worm meal in family courts).  DCF confirms the abuse of the child. What more is there? What more could you possibly need? What could this man possibly have to offer of benefit that a 3-year-old has to have? Why can't we err (IF it's an "err") your Honor, on the side of children? If you make a mistake and deny a good man his visitation rights, really, it still won't hurt the kid.  We've got exemplary men and women who are parents fighting in the Middle East, separated for months or years from their children. Come ON, already!  Time to quit catering to the "parenting" rights of these men. http://www.wftv.com/video/21763914/index.html

UPDATE: SAFE!  Thanks to the U.S. Coast Guard. (Now, Judge, will you terminate the guy's parental rights, please?) http://www.news-press.com/article/20091201/NEWS01/91201013/1075/Missing-Cocoa-boy-found-safe-off-Sanibel-coast

Alleged model family man and father, baseball coach and all around nice guy Thomas Mangiantini wiped out his family under circumstances that did not (apparently) include a (formally) pending divorce or separation, or the ubiquitous media rationale of financial distress. We suspect: either there really was a possible separation threatened (for multiple possible reasons... someone cheat? someone commit a crime? etc.), or he wasn't really such the all-around nice guy the neighbors say he was. And once again a school system stupidly is calling out the "crisis management team" for students. http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=340178

Murderer Steven England was on probation for domestic violence. http://www.forestgrovenewstimes.com/news/story.php?story_id=125937746097876500

"Robert J. Beiser's threats against his estranged wife started long before he assembled the weapons to kill her, according to a man who became romantically involved with Teresa Beiser as her marriage disintegrated..." http://www.oregonlive.com/tualatin/index.ssf/2009/11/post.html

"Aaron Bowman, 28, of New Roads, was booked into the Pointe Coupee Parish Prison on one count of first-degree murder, said New Roads Police Capt. Mark Munson on Saturday... An autopsy showed that one of the baby's legs was broken and he had been hit with the palm of a fist on his head, his stomach and his back... The child also had liver damage... died from internal bleeding... Bowman first told police that the child was injured while Bowman was playing with him. Bowman said he was throwing the child in the air when the child 'slipped' and fell." What nincompoop gave this man custody of a baby and a 2-year-old toddler? http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/police/70731097.html

"[C]ivilization requires a stable, rational, and consensual moral framework in order to survive... The medicalization of mass murder is a great moral evasion. Substituting the therapeutic worldview for morality will not work... Sick is no adequate substitute for evil." Read the article at http://www.albertmohler.com/2009/11/19/when-morality-collapses-the-therapeutic-evasion/  Consider how the therapeutic mindset, aka therapeutic jurisprudence, plays out in the family courts.

Paternate "Curtis Lee Morris Jr., 27, remains in jail on $300,000 bond... Barry Mitchell of Shelby County Juvenile Court said Morris gained custody of the child in September from the baby's mother, Erica B. Snipes, also 27, of Memphis. Police have not been able to locate the mother... Mitchell said he could not go into detail about why Morris was given custody." http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/nov/19/dad-accused-beating-his-son-had-just-gotten-custod/  Commentary at http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2009/11/dad-gests-custody-this-fall-then-beats.html

"Audrey Mabrey, 23, is reported in critical condition". The alleged perpetrator, "Christopher Hanney, 44, is listed as stable at Tampa General Hospital... According to the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office, deputies were called to the Apollo Beach home for a report of domestic violence on October 20, but no one was arrested." http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local/story/Woman-set-on-fire-in-critical-condition/5Fulfbc2q0SeRgLxMnIDbg.cspx

"The unidentified man surrendered to Palm Bay SWAT team members at about 6 a.m. and was taken to the Palm Bay Community Hospital after appearing under the influence of an unknown substance... The woman and the children, a 14-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl, managed to escape the home during the overnight hours, police said." http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20091117/BREAKINGNEWS/91117002/1006/news01/Dad+arrested+after+hostage+situation+ends+in+Palm+Bay
          Lucky them that they are still alive. Note to defense-minded apologists: neither the woman nor the children were able under these circumstances to make the 911 call. Had this "event" somehow been managed, and then reported after the fact, perhaps in a family law case or in connection with the seeking of a restraining order, how seriously would you have taken it?
          And get this idiotic media statment: "Investigators said it began as a fight between Christopher Lynch and his estranged wife. They said Lynch had two guns on him at the time of the standoff." http://www.wesh.com/news/21636380/detail.html  (First the media unidentifies him -- in case it's yet again just some "dad" -- see the floridatoday.com URL -- accused wrongly of domestic violence. And then another news source describes barging into someone else's home armed with two guns as a "fight".)