KAV INQUISITION IS NOT UNLIKE WHAT IS HAPPENING TO PARENTS ACROSS THIS COUNTRY!
Inside the Courtroom Where You're Not Allowed to Speak
Lisa Mothee came to Philadelphia Family Court last September confident she'd get the chance to tell her story, and hopeful that the Department of Human Services' case on the youngest of her five kids would be closed.
Yet, in the courtroom of Judge Lyris Younge, that's not what happened. After she answered questions about the birth of her daughter, the topic of her four older kids was raised – and Mothee wasn't permitted to speak. When she tried, according to a transcript, the judge cut her off: "Do not blurt out in court."
Then, Younge ordered Mothee, 31, and her fiance, Brian Colon, 30, of Olney, to be handcuffed and held until the kids could be claimed from school and from the babysitter, to be taken into protective custody.
"I didn't understand how something like this could happen," Mothee said. "I had all my documents ready, thinking I was going to get a fair hearing. And they tore us apart."
On Monday, another judge, Joseph Fernandes, who this week and last has been assigned to Younge's courtroom, took a total of 15 minutes to reverse the removal, allowing Mothee to reunite with her five children. By the afternoon, they were back home.
It's just the latest overturning of a ruling by Younge, who has faced blistering criticism and reversals from state appellate judges for violating due process and who, the Legal Intelligencer reported last week, is the subject of a probe by the state Judicial Conduct Board.
A spokesman for the courts would not comment on her status or whether she would return. The general counsel for the conduct board did not return messages.
"She took over a very difficult caseload," said Samuel Stretton, speaking as Younge's attorney. "The judge always looks out for the children. That's her priority."
He said that she is not suspended but rather took two weeks in chambers to catch up on an administrative backlog. Next week, she'll be on vacation. The week after that, she might return to the courtroom – or she might be reassigned, he said.
Lawyers and clients described a culture of fear and intimidation in her courtroom, where in January she held a lawyer, Brian McLaughlin, in contempt for being late to represent a mother in a contested hearing. Karen Deanna Williams, McLaughlin's lawyer, said he wasn't late: He'd waited in Younge's courtroom for an hour and a half before being called to another courtroom on a separate matter. She called Younge's court order in the case fraudulent and possibly criminal. And, she alleged, Younge held the contempt hearing without any notice to McLaughlin. A Superior Court judge removed Younge from the case.
"She's done any number of things in specific cases, all of which go to denial of litigants' due process," she said. "That's the overarching theme. Each case has a denial of due process or several denials, in separating families or not allowing children to go with their grandparents."
'Everybody has been dealing with the same issue'
Mothee said she has connected with 25 families who shared similar claims – that Younge would not allow them to present evidence or testimony before she moved quickly to remove their children, in some cases going even further than the city Department of Human Services' recommendation.
Mothee had feared retaliation, but hoped that if all the families spoke up together they could prevail. They've been holding protests outside TV stations and the courthouse.
"Everyone has been dealing with the same issue," she said.
In interviews, the families all said the same thing: "She wouldn't let me speak." "My lawyer wasn't allowed to talk." "I never got to testify."
PLEASE WAKE UP AMERICA AND DEMAND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS!
http://www.governing.com/topics/public-justice-safety/tns-philadelphia-court-silence.html