Checking back for updates from New Hampshire, on the Ruggeiro case, that I posted about last week, I found this: “Bogus Evidence? There’s an app for that” NH.com February 28, 2011
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/newsstatenewengland/910607-227/bogus-evidence-theres-an-app-for-that.html
Catchy title for a story of a woman named Samantha Morrison arrested in February for false reports to law enforcement and falsifying evidence to get her (ex) boyfriend arrested.
Wow, I love it because I personally know dozens of men who have been the victim of false allegations and not in one single case was the woman, ever, prosecuted. I know a couple of men who have filed civil actions after repeatedly being subject to arrest on false reports, but none, zero, who have ever had the police or prosecutors enforce current and existing law to hold the women who filed false criminal complaints accountable for their crimes.
Granted, I get around more than most of you, as someone involved in family law reform I get calls and emails from men all over the country. However, this problem has become so widespread I bet that the majority of you know someone who knows of someone that it has happened to. I am not the only woman working to stem the tide of false allegations in family court and criminal prosecutions. There are many mothers, whose sons have been victimized by this, women whose brother’s, friends, boyfriends or spouses have been victimized by misuse of domestic violence laws who advocate for reform.
Last year I looked into the possibility of sending such phony text messages, in an effort to defend someone against false allegations and despite consultation with IT experts in several police departments I could not find such an application that could be used in the types of cell phones in question. The accused in that case had cheap, basic, pay as you go mobile phone with no browser or special features or capability to have software, which Ms. Morrison used, added to it. With a preponderance of evidence I was able to disprove that the accused had sent text because there was no way that they could have had the information supposedly contained in the text messages and no one ever saw the messages that were supposedly sent. Electronics and software are evolving all the time and last months, let alone last year’s devices or application can now be obsolete. The fact that this can be done means that text messages will not be able to be used as evidence of either guilt or innocence anymore.
In Delaware, a state that I am very familiar with, evidence is not needed. She said, he said, is enough for a civil protection order and it’s enough for an arrest warrant for criminal contempt of a civil protection order. That does not stop some women from falsifying physical evidence. Maybe they don’t realize that the bar is set so low, in domestic violence cases or maybe they are not satisfied with civil protection orders and criminal contempt arrests and are endeavoring to secure a criminal conviction. No evidence, other than words spewing like sewage from the mouth of an alleged domestic violence victim, will get an arrest warrant, in Delaware, but to go before a jury with only lies and tears might not be enough to get their desired retribution.
Last year, a close personal friend of mine was accused of calling his ex-wife, in violation of an ex-parte protection order, that order was based on a plethora of lies. He had no knowledge of the ex-wife filing or being granted a protection order. His ex-wife alleged that he called her at 10:50AM the morning after she got her ex-parte order and left a voice mail message that said ‘you are a liar’. The ex-wife called the Delaware State Police and showed the responding officer her cell phone that showed the message had been received from a restricted phone number and she played the insulting but nonthreatening message. The Delaware State Police officer did not know this man and had no way of knowing if, in fact, that was his voice on the voice mail. Delaware State Police did not contact him to ask for his phone records. Phone records will show if a call came from your phone regardless if you dialed *67 or not to show ‘restricted’ on a caller id. No such call was placed from his phone or any phone in his house. Delaware State Police did not contact him to ask if he had an alibi for the time the call was placed. The man DID have an alibi for the time of that call. What the Delaware State Police did was get an arrest warrant, on the man, for criminal contempt of a protection order. He had not even been served the protection order. He was subsequently arrested and incarcerated in a Delaware State Prison.
Ex-parte orders, where only the accusing party is present must be heard with both parties present within ten days and the following Tuesday, the same man was at family court for the hearing on the protection order. He had subpoenaed a number of witnesses hoping to defeat the order. He arrived at 8:55 A.M. to meet his witnesses. The hearing was set for 10 or 10:30. His ex-wife arrived around ten A.M. and shortly thereafter her Community Legal Aid Attorney (benefit of filing for a PFA) came to talk to him and they worked out an agreement to dismiss the Petition for the PFA (protection from abuse). As we were leaving, a Capitol Police officer approached him and arrested him again for criminal contempt of the protection order. The ex-wife had alleged, that morning, before the agreement was reached to dismiss the PFA that he had again called from a restricted phone number at 9:21 A.M. and left a message saying ‘hello’ to his sons. The ex had no way of knowing that her ex-husband had been in the waiting room at the family court from 9 A.M. on that he had arrived so early. In the waiting room at the court you are on video surveillance and no cell phones are allowed other than in the custody of the police officers. He was in a room full of people, with three or four officers present as well as a two or three court employees, on video camera at the time of the alleged phone call to the ex-wife. Despite these facts he was arrested. Did the Delaware State Police or the Capitol Police ever investigate the false reports to their respective agencies? NO.
The charges from the arrest when he had not been served the PFA were dismissed and the record expunged with apologies from Kent County Family Court for wrongfully entering him into the system as having been served when he was not. The charges from the arrest at family court were dismissed when the ex-wife did not appear to testify against him.
It was inevitable that sooner or later, with the proliferation of false police reports involving domestic violence that some prosecutor somewhere would get tired of it and take the long overdue action to punish the offenders.
It should never be easy to get an innocent person arrested on false charges and/or using trumped up evidence. Allegations of a crime should always be investigated even if it is the sacred cow of domestic violence. No one and no group of individuals should have a license to break the law and making a false report or falsifying evidence is breaking the law. The arrests and prosecution of Ruggiero and her mother and Morrison show that at least in these two separate jurisdictions police and prosecutors are now taking false police reports of domestic violence seriously. It is long overdue.
In Florida one Sheriff’s Department now routinely investigates all reports of domestic violence and alleged violations of protection orders. In the law enforcement industry police agencies are acknowledging there is a problem.
When are the Delaware State Police going to investigate the case I’ve written about? When is the DE DOJ going to afford equal protection to men accused of domestic violence? Not until the citizens of Delaware demand that they do.
Justice in New Hampshire
A woman was prosecuted in New Hampshire for false allegations against her ex husband and is now in prison doing serious time. She bought a cell phone in her ex husband's name and sent herself threatening text messages, from that phone, and then had him arrested for violating a protection order. She is already serving years in prison and now she is facing additional charges along with her mother, her boyfriend and her ex-husband's brother.
Falsifying evidence is not uncommon although in DE all you have to do is allege that someone violated a protection order, no evidence is required, so you don't have to bother to make any up.
Here is the heart warming story:
http://www.eagletribune.com/newhampshire/x316471922/Ruggiero-faces-21-new-charges
"Ruggiero faces 21 new charges"
Will we ever read a headline like that in Delaware? Doubtful. AG Biden and Patricia Dailey Lewis, who runs the Family Division of the DOJ, will not prosecute for false allegations of domestic abuse made in Family Court and have said that. While I am not aware of anyone in Beau Biden's office ever flat out saying that the DOJ doesn't prosecute people who make false police reports of domestic violence/criminal contempt of protection orders (PFA) I can tell you that they don't. That statement is supported by empirical evidence. Not since the Jim Crow era has there been such widespread abuse of the civil rights of one class of citizens by another class of citizens gone unaddressed by police and prosecutors.
One prosecution, in Delaware, like Ruggiero, would set an example that would reverberate down to the Family Court. False allegations and false police reports of domestic abuse would plummet if people saw that there could be serious negative consequences. Police and court resources could be saved for actual victims of actual crimes, taxpayer dollars could be saved not to mention innocent people and their children would be spared the adverse experience.
Making a false police report is a crime, a misdemeanor, in Delaware. Attorney General Biden took an oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the State. Apparently they do in New Hampshire.
Falsifying evidence is not uncommon although in DE all you have to do is allege that someone violated a protection order, no evidence is required, so you don't have to bother to make any up.
Here is the heart warming story:
http://www.eagletribune.com/newhampshire/x316471922/Ruggiero-faces-21-new-charges
"Ruggiero faces 21 new charges"
Will we ever read a headline like that in Delaware? Doubtful. AG Biden and Patricia Dailey Lewis, who runs the Family Division of the DOJ, will not prosecute for false allegations of domestic abuse made in Family Court and have said that. While I am not aware of anyone in Beau Biden's office ever flat out saying that the DOJ doesn't prosecute people who make false police reports of domestic violence/criminal contempt of protection orders (PFA) I can tell you that they don't. That statement is supported by empirical evidence. Not since the Jim Crow era has there been such widespread abuse of the civil rights of one class of citizens by another class of citizens gone unaddressed by police and prosecutors.
One prosecution, in Delaware, like Ruggiero, would set an example that would reverberate down to the Family Court. False allegations and false police reports of domestic abuse would plummet if people saw that there could be serious negative consequences. Police and court resources could be saved for actual victims of actual crimes, taxpayer dollars could be saved not to mention innocent people and their children would be spared the adverse experience.
Making a false police report is a crime, a misdemeanor, in Delaware. Attorney General Biden took an oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the State. Apparently they do in New Hampshire.
Results
The charges against the Executive Director of FLAIR were all nolled when the case was continued on January 18, 2011. He has been the victim of eight false police reports that resulted in six arrests on seven charges and of false allegations and perjury that resulted in four protection orders. It will require going to court to expunge his criminal record and at this time there is no way to clear the record of vacated protection orders.
AG Biden has stated that women who make false allegations for protection orders will not be punished. Apparently committing the crime, a misdemeanor, of false police reporting is not subject to prosecution if you are a woman making a false report against a man. Reminds me of the days when whites could commit crimes against blacks with impunity in many parts of the United States. Laws are made to apply to everyone equally. To allow a class of citizens to commit crime against another class of individuals is morally wrong, illegal and unconstitutional.
Biden's job is to uphold the laws of Delaware and if he can't or won't do that they he is not fit to be the Attorney General.
AG Biden has stated that women who make false allegations for protection orders will not be punished. Apparently committing the crime, a misdemeanor, of false police reporting is not subject to prosecution if you are a woman making a false report against a man. Reminds me of the days when whites could commit crimes against blacks with impunity in many parts of the United States. Laws are made to apply to everyone equally. To allow a class of citizens to commit crime against another class of individuals is morally wrong, illegal and unconstitutional.
Biden's job is to uphold the laws of Delaware and if he can't or won't do that they he is not fit to be the Attorney General.
Invitation
Gordon from FLAIR is scheduled for trial, on a virtual slew of false allegations, in the Kent County Court of Common Pleas on December 7, 2010. He was served three warrants in five days. Two of the charges have already been reduced. Everyone is invited to be at CCP at 9AM. Court watchers have been requested, on various websites. His children have been denied the opportunity to even talk to him on the phone and he hasn't seen them since June 28, 1010. Who speaks for their interest? Apparently, no one, but it will be brought to the attention of the family court, on civil contempt charges and it will be addressed in the already filed lawsuit, in Superior Court, Count VII: Tortious Interference With Child Custody and/or Child Parenting Time.
Upcoming Event
The Executive Director of FLAIR is looking for volunteers to do a relay, "RUN FOR JUSTICE",(in the family court system) from the Delaware Attorney General's office in Wilmington, DE to Legislative Hall in Dover sometime in May or June. It's about 40 miles and he's looking for seven people or more. The more people the less mileage per person. For more information or to volunteer contact Gordon at weareFLAIR@gmail.com.
News of the Day, August 24, 2010 from Delaware Family Court
Today was a good day for justice in Kent County Family Court. It was a good day for men who are victims of abuse that if they were women would land the perpetrator in jail.
In the matter of the woman who had told of the pressure and coercion of domestic violence advocates, encouraging women to fabricate, exaggerate and lie about abuse (constituting false allegations); then flipped again and subjected her ex to a barrage of false civil and criminal allegations, her ex-husband secured a protection order against her. Hers was granted two weeks ago and she has used it like a sword not as a shield as it is intended. Her petition for protection was based on false allegations and implications that he was suspect in criminal acts against her that it was impossible for him to perpetrate. That's the way it goes in family court, not just in the Worst in the First but across the country: allegations from a woman's mouth, without support of any physical evidence, constitute a "preponderance of evidence" in domestic violence cases.
Today it felt good to win one in Family Court. I have sued pro-se in six states and helped others represent themselves in two additional states and winning feels so good.... you just have to experience it to begin to understand it.
Tonight though I feel bad. I feel bad for the woman who was not old enough, not experienced enough to be patient and let things play out longer. There was a good chance that things would have worked out had she given it more time. I feel bad for the ex-husband who is now forced into the position where he has to crush her in the courts as a matter of his own survival and liberty. I am sad for the children who love their father and have not seen him for almost two months. There is no replacement for their biological father who loves them more than anything or anyone in this world. It is a disservice to them to be cut off from him and be collateral damage in the war between their mother and their father.
Soon enough the next battle will commence. The next court date is set for next month. Hopefully the ex-wife is beginning to see the light; that false statements are morally and legally wrong. There will be consequences for false statements under oath and false reports.
Is this the best for anyone?
It was certainly good to win in court today but it's sad that this family has come to where they are now. Two people that I liked and their little boys.......
Instead of the rush to put fathers and mothers in the adversarial system maybe we, as a society, should do more to mediate problems rather than tear families apart.
In the matter of the woman who had told of the pressure and coercion of domestic violence advocates, encouraging women to fabricate, exaggerate and lie about abuse (constituting false allegations); then flipped again and subjected her ex to a barrage of false civil and criminal allegations, her ex-husband secured a protection order against her. Hers was granted two weeks ago and she has used it like a sword not as a shield as it is intended. Her petition for protection was based on false allegations and implications that he was suspect in criminal acts against her that it was impossible for him to perpetrate. That's the way it goes in family court, not just in the Worst in the First but across the country: allegations from a woman's mouth, without support of any physical evidence, constitute a "preponderance of evidence" in domestic violence cases.
Today it felt good to win one in Family Court. I have sued pro-se in six states and helped others represent themselves in two additional states and winning feels so good.... you just have to experience it to begin to understand it.
Tonight though I feel bad. I feel bad for the woman who was not old enough, not experienced enough to be patient and let things play out longer. There was a good chance that things would have worked out had she given it more time. I feel bad for the ex-husband who is now forced into the position where he has to crush her in the courts as a matter of his own survival and liberty. I am sad for the children who love their father and have not seen him for almost two months. There is no replacement for their biological father who loves them more than anything or anyone in this world. It is a disservice to them to be cut off from him and be collateral damage in the war between their mother and their father.
Soon enough the next battle will commence. The next court date is set for next month. Hopefully the ex-wife is beginning to see the light; that false statements are morally and legally wrong. There will be consequences for false statements under oath and false reports.
Is this the best for anyone?
It was certainly good to win in court today but it's sad that this family has come to where they are now. Two people that I liked and their little boys.......
Instead of the rush to put fathers and mothers in the adversarial system maybe we, as a society, should do more to mediate problems rather than tear families apart.
Here it goes again
In May a woman spoke at the Family Law Commission and told the members (and public attending) that DV advocates had encouraged her to exaggerate and fabricate to obtain protection orders (she also told of sexual harassment by a Capitol Police Officer and stated that the 'voice of the victims gets lost').
Prior to her speaking at the FLC she had met with a Delaware Representative at the request of her ex, the victim of the false allegations. She had also told me when we were alone a weekend before that the "advocates get in your face and they make you feel like you WERE abused. I never felt that I was abused." She told me that her ex had never physically hurt her that he never was violent with her. To her credit she never, despite the coercion from the 'advocates', accused him of hitting, slapping, punching or what is generally considered "violence" toward her.
Well here it goes again, she filed an ex-parte emergency petition for protection, last month, when she knew that he was 800 miles away. What "violence" could anyone perpetrate from hundreds of miles away???? Launch a missile aimed at her house???
Ex-parte motions are to be used when there is immediate "danger". This is an abuse of process. No one can pose a danger to anyone from afar.
Why this woman has gone nuclear again is a mystery to me. I used to like her. She can be a nice person and a lot of fun to be with. She told me that living with her dysfunctional family makes her "mean", that it makes her a person that she doesn't want to be and maybe after two months living with them again she's become "mean". Still, I don't understand it. She and the ex have both moved on and have intimate relationships with other people. The "victims" in this are their children who are now denied contact with their father, the ex.
Stay tuned for more on this case.
The children should not be denied their right to their relationship with their father and he intends to do everything in his power to fight for their right and to defend against a protection order that will interfere with that right, his employability, his constitutional protections and his civil rights.
Prior to her speaking at the FLC she had met with a Delaware Representative at the request of her ex, the victim of the false allegations. She had also told me when we were alone a weekend before that the "advocates get in your face and they make you feel like you WERE abused. I never felt that I was abused." She told me that her ex had never physically hurt her that he never was violent with her. To her credit she never, despite the coercion from the 'advocates', accused him of hitting, slapping, punching or what is generally considered "violence" toward her.
Well here it goes again, she filed an ex-parte emergency petition for protection, last month, when she knew that he was 800 miles away. What "violence" could anyone perpetrate from hundreds of miles away???? Launch a missile aimed at her house???
Ex-parte motions are to be used when there is immediate "danger". This is an abuse of process. No one can pose a danger to anyone from afar.
Why this woman has gone nuclear again is a mystery to me. I used to like her. She can be a nice person and a lot of fun to be with. She told me that living with her dysfunctional family makes her "mean", that it makes her a person that she doesn't want to be and maybe after two months living with them again she's become "mean". Still, I don't understand it. She and the ex have both moved on and have intimate relationships with other people. The "victims" in this are their children who are now denied contact with their father, the ex.
Stay tuned for more on this case.
The children should not be denied their right to their relationship with their father and he intends to do everything in his power to fight for their right and to defend against a protection order that will interfere with that right, his employability, his constitutional protections and his civil rights.
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