Yesterday, while discussing my latest problems with the children's mother, a neighbor commented that "we give our judges too much power." That seems to be a common sentiment, and you've probably gathered, by now, my feelings on the subject from elsewhere in this site. What, perhaps, isn't so clearly understood, is the power this office wields in its seemingly arbitrary, or even grossly biased decisions to act or not to act. And when it does decide to act, it is, from my experience, not above the tactics employed by private attorneys seeking monetary gain - character assassination and passionate portrayal of known falsehoods as God given fact.

I began trying to communicate with the local State's Attorneys Office around 1994. As I explained elsewhere, I was trying to  get the police reports regarding the children's mother's violent, destructive, abusive behavior to somehow connect with the people that actually file the charges against the criminals. In every effort, I was met with irritated people, both in law enforcement and at the State's Attorneys Office, who would only tell me that "we don't tell them how to do their job, and they don't tell us how to do ours."

In 1995, I was finally able to meet with Assistant State's Attorney J. Mr. J charged the children's mother with, and successfully prosecuted her for, one count of domestic battery, and two counts of criminal damage to property. (Actually, one count of criminal damage to property was dismissed, I assume in a plea bargain.) She was sentenced to one year probation, and ordered to pay for totaling my girlfriend's Toyota Carolla that she repeatedly rammed through my garage door with our SUV (by the way, this was 2 1/2 years after I filed for divorce). She was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and treatment if indicated - the first of two such orders and four strong recommendations, from other professional therapists and evaluators. I believe she was also ordered to pay a small fine. To date, she has never undergone the recommended  or ordered evaluations, and five years later, after a separate civil suit brought about by the owner of the Toyota, if she has paid off the owner of the car she destroyed, she did it using marital funds and child support money.

I called Mr. J approximately on year later to discuss the fact that the children's mother, while on her one year probation, was continually committing violent crimes against me, my children, the woman I was dating, and my property. These acts included, but were not limited to smashing in the front door of my house, setting a blanket on fire and slinging it across the living room, smashing furniture and other items within the home, and beating up my girlfriend while she was holding her 3 year old son in her arms (all in front of our children). They also included doing about $2,700 damage to one of my cars, about $1,800 to another, $2,000 damage to my motorcycle, and about $500 to my girlfriend's car. During this time, she also broke into my house and cut up hundreds, if not thousands of dollars worth of my clothes, broke into my girlfriend's car and stole about $600 worth of clothes, and broke several windows out of my garage. Oh yah, I almost forgot: In addition to beating me unconscious with what was apparently a telephone (a favorite weapon of hers), she also chased me down with her SUV on a city street, and repeatedly rammed  my car while our 2 and 4 year olds were in the back seat. The police were called in each and every case.

And Mr. J's reaction to all this? His response was that he was not going to take any further action against the children's mother, because, as he understood the situation, most of the woman's violent acts were committed during the exchange of the children, and he believed that once the property and custody issues were resolved in court, her violence would taper off. I agreed that many, though not all, of the violence occurred during the exchange of the children, but asked what possible difference that could make. She's not going to be held accountable for these or any further acts of violence simply because she involves the children in many of them?!?

I argued that these were clear cut, back and white, violent crimes that would never cease as long as they go unpunished. I demanded action. I asked, "Why won't you do anything about it?" His response was, and I quote: "Well Mr.----, life just isn't fair." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I asked, "Isn't it your job to make it fair? What would happen to me, with a spotless record, if I was to commit just one of these eleven violent acts that I am begging you to follow-up on?" He responded, and once again I quote: "I would prosecute you to the full extent of the law, and you would serve a two to four year prison sentence, and be enrolled in a mandatory domestic battery program." To which I responded, "But since she's the woman, you're not going to do anything?" Mr. J simply replied, "Like I said, life just isn't fair."

Years later I met with Assistant State's Attorney C. I showed him documentation proving that the children's mother had broken into my home (again) stolen the title to my vehicle, forged my name on the title signing sole ownership of the vehicle over to her (didn't even try to make the signature look like mine), sent it into the DMV, received a "corrected" title in her name only, took out a loan using the vehicle as collateral, and intentionally defaulted on the loan, causing my $25,000 vehicle - completely paid off years before - to be repossessed. Mr. C agreed that I had clearly proven to him that a crime (forgery) had been committed, and that the children's mother was the one who committed it, but unfortunately, he only handles misdemeanors, and this was a felony. According to Mr. C, felonies are handled by State's Attorney S, and I would not be able, nor would he himself be able, to discuss the issue with Mr. S. Mr. C informed me, as I had already been told over the last several years by at least one of my attorneys, a Sterling police officer, and two different employees in his office - once over the phone, and once in person - that Mr. S does not meet with private citizens, and will not speak to me.

Oh, and I also wanted to point out that an acquaintance of mine, whom I have known for about 15 years, and I believe, holds one of the most powerful positions within the local office, is actually well aware of what this woman has, and continues to do, to me and my children - who knows exactly what the situation is - but has done nothing to help. We certainly couldn't risk a career on anything that might suggest a hint of partiality, now.

Mr. C did, however, recommend that I take his card to the Sterling police station, and ask to speak to an officer there, tell them that we had discussed the matter, and that he had indicated that this was a prosecutable offense. You can hit the "LAW ENFORCEMENT?" link to learn how that went.

And then there's my most recent involvement with the State's Attorneys Office: In July of 1999, the children's mother - after learning 1.) that I had pursued the forgery issue, and 2.) that her friend had days before managed to have her ex-husband arrested for battery after she went to his home on his court ordered day to have their children, demanded the children be handed over to her, and started a fight with his girlfriend - came to my home uninvited, demanded early payment of the "child support", threatened to kick in the doors and windows of the home (again), tried to enter the house and pull the children outside, refused repeated orders to leave the premises, and eventually physically attacking me...for which I was arrested and charged...by Mr. S...for domestic battery. ("Domestic" Battery, because, remember, even years after your divorce is finalized, once you were married to someone, even the most horrific acts of violence and abuse, whether directed at you or the children, are boiled down to an issue of "arguing ex-spouses".)

Assistant State's Attorney B was assigned to prosecute me for the crime, and have me potentially put in jail for up to a year (or was it two?) and fined up $2500. I won't say here how this came about, so (like everything else in this site) you'll have to take my word for it, but I personally overheard Mr. B say that he was handling the case because all the other prosecutors, either through previous encounters with the children's mother, or through direct conversations regarding this issue, knew she was fabricating her story, and refused to try the case!

And as if that wasn't corrupt enough, on the day of my trial, in an effort to get out of actually having to work to send an admitted innocent victim to prison, Mr. B threatened to ask the judge for a continuance to allow him to bring my young children into the matter and drag them through the mud on the witness stand unless I agreed to plead guilty! Thankfully, the judge did not allow this, and even after Mr. B made every effort to portray me as a violent, spoiled, cheating, jealous little rich brat (apparently, as he described, because I live in a $180,000 home near the water), I was justly found NOT GUILTY.

This little incident, to me, comprises one of the most puzzling episodes of this whole affair: If most people were to take one look at two out of the three partners at the law firm that represents the children's mother, they could clearly see that they are EVIL INCARNATE, driven by money, power, notoriety and revenge (and perhaps to compensate for being unpopular, picked on adolescents). But this guy - Mr. B - I can not figure out. He looks like a nice guy. From what I understand, he even has two young daughters similar in age to my children, and yet he does this. I don't know the inner workings of the State's Attorneys Office, but I assume promotions and raises are based more on politics than performance. I would think, perhaps wrongly so, that this guy brings home the same $45,000-$75,000 per year whether he wins every case or loses every case. Why would he do this to me and my children?

Well, I guess I've really offended some powerful people now. But what are they going to do to me in retaliation? Refuse to protect me, my children and my property from violent crime? We've had almost decade to get used to that. Try to have me fined and imprisoned for crimes they know I did not commit? Been there, done that. Sue me for millions? Sorry, the children's mother, her boyfriend and their child, her attorneys, the owners of all the residences she has lived in and damaged, their attorneys, my attorneys, and others, all have dibbs on the "family fortune". If you want to go after what else I can scrape together to feed, cloth, shelter and educate my children with, have at it... or, you could start doing your jobs by prosecuting violent child predators even if they're involved in custody battles.