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Corruption
In Family and Divorce Courts |
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Press
Release
Source: Illinois Family Court
Accountability Advocates (IFCAA) |
This page is mentioned
on my list of top ten pages:
http://www.lawyerdude.8m.com/5459.html
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IFCAA,
Chicago Grassroots Organization,
Fighting Racketeering Enterprise
in Family Court Alleges Illinois
Attorney General Lisa Madigan
Spending Tax Payer Dollars
to Defend Judicial Corruption
Monday June 19, 3:25 pm ET
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CHICAGO--(BUSINESS
WIRE)--June 19, 2006--Illinois
Family Court Accountability
Advocates (IFCAA) today announced
that they have taken on judicial
corruption - fraud, extortion,
coercion under duress -
in the Cook County Circuit
Court Domestic Relations Division.
IFCAA is networking with local
and national groups to
expose the national epidemic
of family courts trafficking
children for the financial
gain of divorce judges
and lawyers, and court-appointed
child attorneys, evaluators,
therapists and visitation
supervisors.
IFCAA contends that the biggest
obstacle to justice is the
Illinois Attorney General's
representation of alleged
corrupt judges in state and
federal court against unrepresented
citizens illegally impoverished
by the defendant-judges. Illinois
taxpayers getting hit on both
ends of racketeering enterprise
that generates private
income for alleged criminal
state court agents on taxpayers'
tab. National organizations
are targeting financial gain
to judges and the child attorneys
they appoint, especially
investigating the misappropriation
of state and federal funds
unlawfully fueling racketeering
enterprise. Martin Green,
Executive Assistant to Attorney
General Madigan, stated, in
effect, that until a presiding
judge in state or federal
court rules that there is
a problem with a family court
judge, the Attorney General's
Office will represent the
defendant-judges. IFCAA
co-founder, Dr. Sheila Mannix,
comments, "It's a straightforward
case of a hierarchy of foxes
guarding the hen house. The
legal dilemma for the "foxes,"
who have chosen to work in
professions in the public
trust, is that they are legally-mandated
to obey professional and ethical
codes of conduct and/or
they have taken oaths of office
to uphold the Constitutions
of the United States and the
State of Illinois and have
signed fiduciary contracts
funded by state and federal
taxpayers' dollars. The
moral dilemma is that the
"foxes" are devouring
those whom they are legally-bound
to protect - most horrifically
- innocent children and their
protective, primary caretakers.
It crosses the line into
psychosocial pathology."
Group has compiled several
members' material evidence
of judicial corruption by
Cook County Judges Karen
G. Shields and James G. Donegan
(among others) which has been
turned over to civil
and criminal authorities.
Material evidence includes
direct judicial retaliation.
If primary caretaker stands
up to judicial corruption,
children are being taken with
false allegations and no due
process. Extended "No
Contact" orders
are being entered unless parent
submits to coerced court orders.
IFCAA members have been
threatened with false incarceration
and unlawful sanctions have
been levied. Child witnesses
have been "judicially
kidnapped" in violation
of federal law.
IFCAA has complied evidence
to prove the racketeering
enterprise consists of the
pattern of practice of
state court agents artificially
generating high conflict divorce
and post-divorce cases to
create protracted, costly
litigation - often targeting
cases with documented perpetrators
of domestic violence
who want to avoid child support
obligations and exploiting
the protective parents who
are willing to lose everything
to protect their children.
A review of Cook County Circuit
Court case files show that
if there are no family assets,
then there is no protracted
litigation - no custody battle,
no child attorney, no custody
evaluations, no forced
therapy. If assets, unnecessary
court-appointed child attorneys
in concert with unethical
and dishonest divorce
attorneys launch the racketeering
enterprise by acting in direct
opposition to legally-mandated
fiduciary obligations to act
in the best interest of their
adult and child clients.
Fraudulent "custody evaluations"
are created by court-appointed
evaluators who generate reports
without scientific validity
or evidence to support false
allegations and/or conclusions.
Court-ordered therapists
enable abuse and racketeering
enterprise. Supervised visitation
businesses are in league
with child attorneys, evaluators
and therapists. False
reports are used to coerce
one party (the protective
parent and primary caretaker)
under the duress of the
threat of the loss of total
custody into unfair settlements
and the payment of litigation
costs to multiple state court
agents in direct violation
of statutory law. IFCAA
members are meeting with the
Executive Director of the
Judicial Inquiry Board, Kathy
Twine, on Friday, June
23, 2006. A meeting is being
scheduled with John Lagatutta,
Deputy Director for State-Wide
Enforcement, Illinois Department
of Financial and Professional
Regulation. The Attorney
Registration and Disciplinary
Commission is currently investing
a court-appointed child representative.
IFCAA co-founder, Karyn Mehringer
(Freeman) among others have
worked with numerous legislators
for past two years amending
and/or creating new laws dealing
with child attorneys, domestic
violence and child custody
evaluations. Senate Bill 98
and House Bill 360 were signed
into law by Governor
Blagojevich in July and August,
2005, respectively. House
Bill 4216 targeting how child
custody evaluations are
being conducted in the State
of Illinois was pulled from
the Legislative Session in
January of 2006 because Judiciary
Committee refused to support
the need to have state wide
guidelines on how child custody
evaluations are conducted
in the State of Illinois.
This is a national public
interest crisis that is costing
taxpayers multimillions and
immeasurable social losses,
exacted on the backs of the
nation's children. Resource
for older children: www.courageouskids.net
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Contact:
Illinois
Family Court Accountability
Advocates (IFCAA) Karyn Mehringer
(Freeman) and Sheila Mannix,
708-323-6040 www.illinoisfamilycourtadvocates.org
or Independent Federal Fund
Oversight Committee David
Martin Price, 785-267-5132
iffoc@lycos.com or National
Alliance for Family Court
Justice Liz Richards, 703-658-3543
lizgoal@aol.com or Foundation
for Court Reform Yvonne Allen,
314-965-1228 www.FoundationForCourtReform.com
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Source: Illinois
Family Court Accountability
Advocates (IFCAA) |
Judge who
fixed divorce cases sent to
prison
Corruption of Judges is
Common, Not Rare because
"Power Corrupts, and Absolute
Power Corrupts Absolutely".
POSTED: 12:26
p.m. EDT, June 6, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/06/06/judge.prison.ap/index.html
Story Highlights
•
Former Brooklyn state Supreme
Court Justice Gerald Garson
sentenced to prison
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Garson fixed divorce cases in
exchange for gifts
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Gifts included cigars, cash
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Hidden camera in chambers
recorded bribes
NEW YORK (AP) -- An ex-judge
who accepted expensive gifts in
exchange for helping fix divorce
cases and a former state
lawmaker convicted in a scheme
to shake down a judicial
candidate were sentenced to
prison Tuesday.
Former Brooklyn state Supreme
Court Justice Gerald Garson, 74,
was sentenced to three to 10
years in prison.
Garson, 74, wept as he asked
for leniency, claiming the
cigars, cash and other gifts
never influenced his decisions.
But he also admitted that when
he saw hidden-camera videos of
his shady dealings in chambers,
"I was appalled, embarrassed and
ashamed of my demeanor."
Garson was convicted of
receiving bribes and accepting
rewards for official misconduct
but acquitted on four lesser
counts.
The sentencing judge had no
sympathy for him.
"You abdicated your own moral
fiber," Justice Jeffrey Berry
said before imposing the
sentence. "What you brought upon
yourself is terrible."
Earlier in the day, former
state assemblyman Clarence
Norman Jr. surrendered in the
same Brooklyn courtroom to begin
serving a two-to-six-year term.
The Garson case arose from a
broader investigation into
allegations that civil
judgeships were being bought and
sold for up to $50,000.
Hard evidence of such
brokering never materialized,
but the scandal did bring down
Norman, the longtime head of the
Brooklyn Democratic Party, and
resulted in convictions of
courthouse staff.
Though already sentenced,
Norman had been free on bail
pending his appeal on
convictions for grand larceny
and other charges.
A civil court candidate
testified at Norman's trial
earlier this year that Norman
threatened to pull his party's
support in 2002 unless she paid
his favored consultant thousands
of dollars.
Beforehand, a jovial Norman
had told reporters, "The Lord is
with me. My family's with me. I
have my health."
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