(also posted on CrossLeft )
It hasn't been me out of town, disconnected, out of pocket this time... but the end result has been almost the same. I've been half here the last few weeks, but oh! the stories I can tell!!
A few weeks ago, the Texas Bar Association put out a plea for anyone who could pick up a pro bono case or three to please consider representing either children (as guardian ad litem) removed from the Fundamental Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) ranch in west Texas, or to represent one of the mothers trying to get back their children from the state protective custody. My own personal live-in lawyer (daughter Lisa) ended up going out there to represent a few of the mothers.
By going "out there" I do mean Out There. You can look it up on the map, but trust me, while it's not out in the middle of nowhere, you CAN see it from there. Let's just say I didn't worry about her enjoying the night life too much on this trip. And she ended up with two clients, both women close to thirty (one on either side of it) and both women worried sick about their children who had never been away from home before.
The women were still quite shaken by the raid, and this was several days later. They said the Child Protective Services (CPS) raid happened in the middle of the night, and came with an armed tank and complete armed SWAT team. And even though they did everything asked of them, the SWAT team kept their guns pointed at the mothers and children the entire time. An experience which would shake up the most jaded of people, I'd think, but for these so sheltered women and children, it was that much more terrifying. "They spoke so loudly" one woman explained, that scared her children as much as anything, these children who had never had a voice so much as raised towards them.
Now the flip side is that CPS and law enforcement surely remembered the situation at Waco, and if I was making such decisions on what to bring with me, I wouldn't have left that tank at home. And certainly I understand why the SWAT team people never let their guard down or showed any trust in the people they were dealing with this time. Sure, it was a way different group of people, but those awful memories of the Branch Davidian tragedy kept all the SWAT guns trained on the people, just in case.
The day after Lisa met with her clients, the hearing started. Now with at least 320 children/parents needing a legal decision on where the children would live in the short-term, I can see why a half-day bench hearing for each of them wasn't practical. However, what happened in the hearing lumping all of them into one, that wasn't justice.
Lisa told us about the first piece of evidence introduced. By law, all the lawyers (both those representing mothers and all the guardian ad litems) needed to see and agree to each piece of evidence introduced. And yet, count them, remember, there are more than 500 legal advocates there trying to do their best for their clients. So the judge called a 10 minute recess and told all the lawyers to come up to see this first piece of evidence right quick. And what was that like? Lisa said one word. Zoo.
After that, the rule for evidence changed. Lawyers were to come up to see the evidence offered at the end of the day and write out their objections if they indeed objected to that piece of evidence. Realistically this made even less sense than the recess to crowd up and try to see, for the written objections wouldn't be seen or ruled on by the judge until, at earliest, the next morning, with at least six hours of hearing having happened in the meantime.
I don't know how this should have been done. It's easy for me to say "well, that didn't work" now, but how DO you hold a quick 300+ hearings, with kids in the yard waiting to know where they were to sleep the next night? I'm sure appeals will be lodged and won because of the way this hearing was held, but I can't think of any way to expidite these hearings without having somebody's rights trampled. I just wish it weren't these children's rights being tossed away like this time.
Meanwhile my daughter's clients are calling her daily, after all this is about their children and their fears for their children, and I know if it were me I'd be calling more than once a day. I would be the one they'd nickname "crazymom."
At any rate, she's glad she got the chance to help out and represent these mothers, she (and I) have serious questions about the legality of the raid to begin with, and I don't think these children have been treated right, and these mothers are getting not even close to as much consideration as the dogs at the SPCA. Uhhh... most of that opinion there is just mine. Lisa might agree but she won't say right now, not as long as she has clients living in this situation. But she IS really glad for the opportunity, no matter how much it all frustrates her. You know the law, you know how things should be, and what should be your legal recourse when things aren't as they should be, and this situation is so far out of normal experience, it's a real education for everybody involved.
Even for mothers of those involved. Even just hearing the bits and pieces she feels like she can tell me. Even being the one who waits for her call after she meets with her client, because if I don't hear from her by midnight I told her I'd be calling the Texas Rangers to go find her. It's amazing how that girl can roll her eyes long distance. But hey, what are mothers for?
No comments:
Post a Comment