Russell Arrested 3/17/08

[dalebert]

While we were waiting for David's trial, there was talk that they were taking him to court right then. It seemed bizarre to me. WTH is going on?

[Dave Ridley]

great job on your video lauren. 
we are establishing a defacto television network here...

[jaqeboy]

Just a little background on how child support orders and enforcement work, just to let you know how they view a case like this. My information is not completely current, but I'll list a couple of resources at the bottom (in a later post) to let you know where you can get more info.

A. In the divorce hearings, one of the 7 issues determined and ordered is the amount of money to be paid by one parent to the other to financially support the minor children,

B. Trial court issues are appeallable, if one is not happy with the trial court's orders,

C. Parties that don't comply with the court's orders can be found in contempt of court, upon a motion by the adverse party or others, and the judge may issue further orders, in order to ensure compliance with his original order,

D. Some portions of the order are final after the appeal period has passed, such as: dissolution of the marriage, division of the property (unless fraud is proved), and some portions of the order are modifiable (upon motion of a party, hearing and judgement), if a change of circumstances is proven, such as: child custody, spousal support (alimony), child support and visitation (or custody schedule, as it is now called in some joint custody jurisdictions),

E. Because of the difficulty in enforcement of the child support portion (and because of some federal legislation due to the involvment of federal welfare in some cases), most states have Child Suppor Enforcement offices, usually somewhere within their Welfare or Health & Human Services Divisions, This office then becomes essentially a 3rd party that initiates motions for contempt for the purpose of forcing payment of child support monies - they often become the party to whom the money is to be paid, rather than the other parent - that way they become the audit channel. (Notice, though, that there is not usually a state office for the enforcement of the other trouble-plagued orders: visitation/custody schedule - this is where the major discrimination is, IMO),

F. In interstate cases, the Child Support Enforcement office in one state petitions the CSE office in the other state and asks them to take over the collection (this is all simplified with a lot of details removed that I'm not current with),

G. The office in the state where the contemnor (person found in contempt) is located petitions the proper court in that jurisdiction, and that court may issue contempt orders which may result in the issuance of a capias for the arrest of the contemnor party,

[This sounds like this is about where Russell is in this process]

(You can look online for how the CS enforcement works here through the Division of Health and Human Services and also you can find the "purpose of contempt jailing" in the section for the courts).

H. Child Support money is a debt, not a fee or fine or penalty. It is not credited against jail time and it is one of the items that cannot be voided by bankruptcy. The process that Russell is in now is an institutionalized debt collection process, with state actors and institutions forming the collection machinery. The jailing is NOT part of the means for reducing the debt, it is a thumbscrew to make one cough up assets for the debt collection machine to transfer over to the beneficiary of the order (the kids, through the other parent).

As much as one might want to paint this as a political oppression, it is more of a state-mechanized debt collection machine. It IS a system that IS discriminatory against non-custodial parents (usually, but not always, Dads), plain and simple. There's a lot of depth of research and opinion on all of this. I can point you to a few starting points (next post).

[Friday]

I have no idea what you just said.     Will Russell be shipped to California, or remain in New Hampshire?  If he posts bail, will he be released?  If he doesn't post bail, will time served be deducted from what he owes?

How old are his children, by the way? And has his ex-wife remarried?

[kola]

I wonder what position Russell wiil take.

Will he be non-compliant and choose to stay in jail?

Or will he use an attorney?

Kola

[jaqeboy]

I have no idea what you just said.   

Sorry, but it's a slightly different vocabulary, but these are the words you will hear when looking into this process.

Will Russell be shipped to California, or remain in New Hampshire?

No, it's just collection of a debt, not a crime against California. A man is still free here (America) to move and live where he chooses if he owes a debt, but the moving doesn't remove the debt. (Note: these are the legal words, I'm not meaning to imply that I think he is being treated justly, just explaining how the system works).

If he posts bail, will he be released?  If he doesn't post bail, will time served be deducted from what he owes?

This is "civil contempt", not a "bailable offense" kind of thing. They will say "he holds the key to his own confinement" - all he has to do is obey the Court's order and he will be released, ie, pay the CS (as if he could). A comparable case of civil contempt is when a reporter refuses the Court's order to divulge her sources. The Court would jail the reporter to make them suffer enough that they finally agree to comply. If the reporter has the ability and inclination to continue in noncompliance, they've reached a kind of stalemate with the Court. The judge has the discretion to make other orders, including releasing the party. Oftentimes in the case of reporters, there is outside political pressure, ie, the Judith Miller, New York Times case in recent history.

[KBCraig]

Just by way of adding more outrage to this situation, you should read up on the "Bradley Amendment". When a parent has moved to another state and has owed $5,000 or more for a year or more, they can be prosecuted and thrown in federal prison for two years.

Under this federal law, it's actually illegal for a court to retroactively reduce support obligations.

Oh, and check out the controversial cases cited in the Wikipedia article. 

[kola]

not good.

as i said earlier, this is serious shit.

[Kat Kanning]

How old are his children, by the way? And has his ex-wife remarried?

11 (his only natural child)
17, 18 (adopted children)
ex-wife remarried

[Kat Kanning]

Thanks to whoever removed my stupid post from yesterday.

[malcolm]

Just a little background on how child support orders and enforcement work...

(Words, words, words....)

Thank you for your description of how this system works!  I learned a few new things.
+1

[Kat Kanning]

"But, like any other past-due debt, the obligee, typically a mother, may forgive what is owed to her."

So Mindy Kanning could stop all this, before Russell gets sent to federal prison for two years.

[srqrebel]

When I called the court at 8 am, they said they were scheduling a court date and if I'd call back at 10:00, they could let me know when that would be.  When I called back at 10:00 Russell had already been to court.

Can you say, "OBVIOUS, UNABASHED DECEPTION"!!!

There is no way in hell that those scheduling the court date did not know the date and time they were scheduling him for, two hours in advance!

These violent criminals who traditionally disguise themselves as "public servants" are making increasingly less effort to disguise their evil nature.

Are they that afraid of what we could do with the simple information that Kat requested?  Or are they fully aware that they are the bad guys, and see no need to hide that fact from those who already have their eyes wide open?  Or both?

It is an affront to basic human decency that they would deliberately deceive the wife of the prisoner about the date and time of the trial.

[srqrebel]

So Mindy Kanning could stop all this, before Russell gets sent to federal prison for two years.

And if she does not, she is on track to be a prime candidate for charter inductee into the coming network of ostracism databases.

[Coconut]

To the child support experts: What are the laws regarding children out of marriage? Does the mother have to file a request for child support at a local court?