Lori
Oklahoma City,#2Consumer Comment
Thu, December 29, 2005
This seems to be a nationwide problem. Family Courts don't have the childrens best interests at heart. Here in Oklahoma there was a little girl that was beaten to death in her home. Despite numerous complaints of abuse by doctors and DHS recommending the child be removed from the home, the idiot Judge recommended she return to this abusive home. Now she is dead and the suspect, her stepfather, is out on bail. I hope this Judge sleeps well at night!
Alan
Kingman,#3Author of original report
Wed, December 28, 2005
Due to the actions and inaction of Dr. Philip G. Helding, Attorney Mary Burns, Attorney Laurel Hart, and Dr. Theodore Allchin, my daughter has become what I had feared. She has been involved in pornography, was recently arrested for burglary. She runs with a group of tattooed, pierced punkers. One of them committed assault with a deadly weapon against me at my home while I was attempting to stop my daughter from driving while intoxicated. She has a new tattoo; a skull and cross bones. She is traveling with 3 punkers and is homeless. This is what family court corruption will do to you and yours. Will it ever end? Only if people wake up and take back our rights to have equal access to our children and demand that these white collar criminals be indicted. Also responsible for the condition of my daughter are those who failed to intervene and allow me to protect my daughter from harm: Clark County (Las Vegas) Nevada Family Court Judges: Steven Jones, William O. Voy, T. Arthur Ritchie and Stephen Compan. Also responsible in Las Vegas: Attorney Rhonda Mushkin, Stephanie Holland, Psychologist, Dr. Corydon G. Clark, Child Psychiatrist and Child Protective Services in Chicago and Las Vegas. Creating criminals from children creates revenue for the ever-growing divorce industry and prison system. They make free people into felons and take away their rights. Land of the free and home of the brave?
Alan
Henderson,#4Author of original report
Thu, July 29, 2004
Ex Parte Definition
ex parte done by one party only; as in, an ex parte communication is where one party to a dispute communicates to a judge without the other parties' presence.
Canon 2 of the Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct states:
A judge shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all of the judge's activities.
Canon 3B(7) states:
A judge shall not initiate, permit, or consider ex parte communications, or consider other communications made to the judge outside the presence of the parties concerning a pending or impending proceeding except that:
(a) Where circumstances require, ex parte communications for scheduling, administrative purposes or emergencies that do not deal with substantive matters or issues on the merits are authorized; provided:
(i) The judge reasonably believes that no party will gain a procedural or tactical advantage as a result of the ex parte communication, and
(ii) The judge makes provision promptly to notify all other parties of the substance of the ex parte communication and allows an opportunity to respond.
On July 19th, 2004, Judge Ritchie held an ex parte hearing on my case. Although I clearly stated in my pleadings, that my Motion for Reconsideration was to be decided on written pleadings and no oral argument is required, he permitted opposing counsel, Daniel S. Harris, oral argument, which resulted in $500 sanctions against me, further damaging and false allegations, and absolutely no remedy to help my children, who are in danger and need of help.
Art Ritchie is masquerading as a judge, he obviously thinks he is above the law. He should be removed from the bench and sanctioned for misconduct.
Alan
Henderson,#5Author of original report
Sat, July 24, 2004
Las Vegas SUN
April 23, 2003
Columnist Jeff German: System fails murdered woman
Jeff German's column appears Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in the Sun. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4067.
Marina Cannon did everything she was supposed to do to protect herself from her estranged husband, Vitaly Zakouto, in the months leading to her Dec. 23, 2000, death.
She obtained a restraining order to keep him away from her. She bought a new home under a different name and installed a high-tech security system. She even purchased a handgun.
For a while, the legal system was on her side, too. In August 2000 Family Court Judge Art Ritchie ordered Zakouto to spend 50 days in jail for breaking into her home in violation of the restraining order, and the district attorney's office later filed felony charges of aggravated stalking against Zakouto.
But when Cannon needed the system the most, it failed her.
On Nov. 22 she pleaded with Ritchie to again jail Zakouto, who had made bail on the criminal charges, for once more breaking into her home. She predicted that Zakouto was heading down a path of violent behavior and would end up killing her.
Ritchie told Cannon she didn't show him enough evidence to put Zakouto in jail, but he left the door open for another hearing.
No hearing, however, ever took place, and a month later Zakouto again broke into Cannon's home, this time killing her.
Late last week, Zakouto was convicted of murder, and a jury recommended that he spend the rest of his life in prison without parole.
Cannon's death exposed flaws in a legal system designed to punish people for committing crimes, rather than preventing crimes from being committed.
Jason Jaeger, one of Cannon's sons, blames Ritchie for letting down his mother.
"He didn't have the vision to see that this guy was a psychotic who was going to keep doing it over and over again," Jaeger said. "Everybody else saw it, why didn't he see it?"
Ritchie insisted that he did everything within the law to help Cannon.
"You'll feel sick about any case in which something like this happens," he said. "You look at yourself and ask what could you have done differently?"
Judges often are hesitant to take decisive action in domestic abuse cases because they must protect the rights of both the victim and the perpetrator. There is potential for both sides to take advantage of the system.
The problem is the system doesn't know how to handle people like Zakouto, who are so obsessed with hurting their spouse, they're willing to break the law to do it.
"Nobody ever thinks domestic violence equals death," said Kathleen Brooks, associate director of Safe Nest, an organization devoted to helping victims of domestic abuse. "They always think it will be resolved."
What the system should learn from Cannon's death is that better training is needed, from the cops on the street to the judges on the bench, to spot potential life-threatening cases of domestic abuse.
This may require judges to become more pro-active and make even tougher calls.
If nothing changes, Marina Cannon won't be the last victim of domestic abuse failed by the system.