Judicial Bias(?) – How It Works and How To Defend Against It by Zed McLarnon
Judicial Bias(?) – How It Works and How To Defend Against It by Zed McLarnon© 2002 Zed McLarnon
Used with permission of the author
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Recommendations of the probation officer
Newspaper/magazine articles and web sites featuring the kidnapping of Ian McLarnon
Web sites featuring Zed's case
Many men in the fathers and family rights movement complain that they have been victimized by judges who demonstrate extreme bias against them in the courtroom regarding restraining orders and/or child custody. We hear stories from men whose lawyers present what they think is a winning case only to have the judge completely ignore the evidence in favor of the (usually) unsubstantiated accusations of abuse by the (ex-)wife, or girlfriend. Some men complain to the Judicial Conduct Committee (JCC) [in Massachusetts] regarding extreme bias judges have used against them in the courtroom, only to have the JCC exonerate the judge. How can this be? How do they get away with it?
I have been involved in a seven-year struggle to see my son. 1 During that period I have used my experience as a forensic investigator, and a great deal of time to research and then discover, the criminal tactics judges and their court personnel use as a basis to support rulings that seem like open discrimination against men/fathers. Here are tips to help you expose the most common crimes used to support the court's blatant bias against fathers. 2
The answer many times is “phantom” clinical evaluations. I call them “phantom” because the man/father doesn't know they exist. Here's how it works: A woman goes to Probate & Family Court to obtain a restraining order, and/or custody. A “victim's advocate,” usually a lawyer or social worker, is appointed by the court. The woman may, also, see a social worker at the Department of Social Services or privately. These social workers interview the woman and write her accusations down in a report. The social worker does not interview the man accused of abuse or neglect or whatever other complaint the woman is basing her case upon. Since this report is generated by a social worker, it is a “clinical” evaluation in the court's eyes, even though the social worker didn't interview both parties – only the woman.
This “clinical” evaluation is sent to the court and, since it is clinical in nature, is impounded in the Register's Office impounded files. It does not appear in the case file. Impounded files are clinical in nature and not meant for public scrutiny. Most men do not know of the existence of impounded files. Even if a man goes to court and reviews his case file he doesn't discover that the “evaluation” is present and poisoning his case.
Therefore, the man doesn't know that there is a report, or evaluation, that is being seen by the judge. Unless this “phantom” evaluation is struck from this case file, the judge who sees it uses it as an excuse to ignore the evidence of the case in favor of granting the woman a restraining order or custody of the children. When challenged by the Judicial Conduct Committee, the judge pulls out the phantom “clinical evaluation” from the impounded files saying this guy is a very bad man and I had to protect the woman and children.
I discovered that phantom clinical evaluations performed by two social workers who worked with my ex-wife's husband had been poisoning my case.
Check your case docket, or have your lawyer obtain a certified copy of the docket, to see if a “clinical” evaluation has been submitted to the Court. If there is an entry in the docket that an evaluation has been submitted, you, or your lawyer, must obtain a copy from the Register's Office. The Register's Office is where all material that is “clinical” in nature is kept — not in your case file. Even if the docket does not have an entry of the existence of an evaluation or report, go to the Register's Office and request all impounded material having to do with your case. The Register's Office will resist by saying they can't find the file, or a judge may be reviewing it, etc. Be persistent. It is imperative to obtain all impounded material from the Register' Office regarding your case. Once you obtain it, or find out it exists, have your lawyer strike this report, or evaluation, from your file on the grounds that it is not “clinical” in nature since you weren't interviewed or given an opportunity to offset the report's accusations.
If your attorney does not inform you that a report might exist, or doesn't check the docket or Register's Office for you, your attorney may not be doing everything possible to help you win. Many times a man's attorney will present all the information the man wants in court. But, if your attorney does not check the docket, or request all impounded material from the Register's Office and have the phantom reports struck, even the best of lawyer's arguments are ignored by the judge in favor of the accusations in the phantom report. Attorneys know this and if you haven't requested that your attorney specifically disclose the presence of this report and strike it from the record, then the attorney has done you an injustice. Of course, this leads to you retaining the attorney further to appeal the adjudication or for the next hearing.
I believe most family lawyers know these tricks are being employed and subtly sell their male clients out by, on the one hand, representing them vigorously — while knowing the judge will ignore their arguments in favor of the manipulated court record. The lawyer shrugs his/her shoulder and the man/father wonders what happened. Lawyers are under pressure from the courts to keep these “tricks” from being revealed or they will never win another case in front of that court again. For example, my attorney, Greg Hession, submitted to Judge Hiller B. Zobel (of the Louise Woodward “nanny” trial) two court-certified copies of my docket six months apart. The second docket had been altered to re-introduce a GAL [Guardian Ad Litem] report that I had previously had stricken. Judge Zobel dismissed my suit and, in his written ruling, threatened Greg that “if he ever presented evidence like that again he would suffer professional sanctions.”
The court's Probation Officer usually listens to the woman and doesn't even check with the man/father. His recommendation is sent to the judge without the man/father being aware of its existence. For example, men with shared parenting have lost custody and been forced to make child support payments even though their divorce agreement was based on shared parenting without any child support. How does this happen? The judge doesn't look at the divorce agreement and issues the ruling based on the Probation Officer's recommendation. When challenged, the judge can defer to the Probation officer's report.
If you are faced with a situation where your ex-wife is trying to gain sole custody and demands child support, write a Memorandum in Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion for Modification of Custody. Demand to know of the existence of a Probation Officer's recommendation or report. Do this on the record so that the court is forced to reveal its existence. Then attack the report as unprofessional since you were never interviewed and disclose to the judge that it is based solely on your ex-wife's fraud upon the court. Women are coached to tell the Probation Officer that they have custody and the man is not paying child-support. If the judge ignores your Memorandum and its logic that your ex-wife lied to the Probation Officer, you have an issue upon which to base an appeal.
In extreme cases, like mine, your hearing tapes may have been edited to remove the presentation of your evidence in the hearing. These edits, along with the removal of your documentary evidence from your case file, successfully vacuums your evidence from the record. If the appeals court or the Judicial Conduct Committee reviews your case, your evidence supporting your complaint will not be found.
Have a court reporter present for all your hearings. If you are indigent, request the court pay for the reporter. Record all proceedings yourself.
My attorney, Greg Hession has discovered that secret hearings have occurred in several cases in which he was involved. My case has at least three secret hearings in which my attorney and I weren't present, but the opposing attorney (my ex-wife's) did meet with the judge. They then come into your hearing knowing exactly how the outcome will be.
Ask the judge and the opposing attorney to put on the record if any ex-parte hearing or meetings occurred regarding your case. Do this right at the beginning of each of your hearings. Watch for “slips of the tongue” in hearings. In my and attorney Hession's cases, the judge or the opposing attorney slipped and referred to an event that had occurred in the secret hearing.
Massachusetts General Hospital's Psychiatry and the Law Department was my son's court -ordered guardian. They illegally charged me $3,000.00 up front. Massachusetts General Hospital and the court knew that state law mandates if the court orders the evaluation, then the court must pay. After Massachusetts General Hospital found my ex-wife, Virginia Jokisch and her politically-connected social worker husband, David Douglas, were abusing my son, Massachusetts General Hospital reversed themselves and tried to extort money from me under the threat that I would never see my son again. When I refused they started a campaign of submitting secret affidavits to the court without allowing myself or my attorney access to the affidavits.
1. Your case file. Make sure your evidence remains intact. Make sure your file isn't being “padded” with bogus evidence that condemns you.
2. Your case docket. Make sure your hearings are all docketed. A common court trick is not to docket your hearing until after the appeal period has lapsed. Then, they docket the hearing and backdate the entry so it seems you let the appeal period lapse. The docket in my case has had illegal deletions and additions made. This is easy to prove because I obtained certified copies of my docket as the case was progressing. It has changed over the years.
3. Your impounded files. These files are located in the Register's Office and are the number one mechanism for social workers to help your ex-wife poison your case with judges.
4. Your hearing's tapes. Obtain a copy and check for edits that remove material beneficial to your case. If you believe your tapes are edited contact me and I can help prove it on my Digital Audio Workstation. I have helped five other men prove their court hearing tapes have been edited.
These tips are intended to help you discover the criminal activity that is widely practiced in the family court system and used to support the bias of judges. The first five pages of the December 2000 issue of The Massachusetts News features coverage of the Middlesex Probate & Family Court and how they edited four of my hearings' tapes, manipulated my case docket and hid “phantom” evaluations generated by associates of my ex-wife's husband, David Douglas. Mr. Douglas is a politically-connected social worker who founded the batterer's treatment center, Common Purpose, and worked at Emerge, another batterer's center. Harry Stewart was jailed because he wouldn't succumb to the extortion threats of Common Purpose.
Here's what Dr. Stephen Baskerville, of Howard University wrote in the August/ September issue of the Catholic World Report regarding my discoveries:
“Litigants have long claimed that family courts tamper with transcripts and other evidence, but were unable to document their claims until Zed McLarnon, a forensic audio-visual expert, showed photographic evidence that hearing records in his case were being doctored. For his complaint, later aired in the Massachusetts News, McLarnon was assessed $20,000 in fees for attorneys he had not hired, and jailed without trial by the same judges who were responsible for the doctored tapes. The court is currently moving to seize his house and car. His attorney claims the court also “removed documents from his case file, falsified the case docket, refused to enter motions and hearings in the public record, and withheld the public case file for nine months.” (from What God Has Joined Together. Professor Baskerville is one of the nation's foremost authorities on Family Courts and the Constitution.
1. Zed McLarnon has over 20 years experience as a forensic investigator. He can provide help for you to expose edited tapes, dockets, files/impounded files, or any other criminal activity. He can be contacted by telephone at (781) 324-1989 or via email at zed@world.std.com. He uses a Digital Audio Workstation and has corroborated that nine people in four states are victims of criminally edited hearing tapes.
2. This copyrighted article is part of McLarnon's upcoming book “Of the Lawyers, By the Lawyers and For the Lawyers.”
Father Sues Court Officials in Federal Court for Kidnapping Son: Zed McLarnon Still Trying To Find Justice in Massachusetts by Ed Oliver, Massachusetts News, June17, 2002.
Full Text of Zed McLarnon 'Complaint' in Federal Court, Massachusetts News,. June 17, 2002.
The Politics of Family Destruction by Dr. Stephen Baskerville, Crisis Magazine, November 4, 2002.
Appeals Court Helps Men Challenge Restraining Orders, Massachusetts News, July 11, 2002.
What God Has Joined Together... by Dr. Stephen Baskerville, Catholic World Report Aug./Sept. 2001.
Biased Courts – Are Family Courts Prejudiced Against Fathers? by Dr. Stephen Baskerville, Insight Magazine, June 18, 2001.
SJC Justice Upset with Problems in Probate Court, But Tells Father to Complain to Chief of Probate Court First by Ed Oliver, Massachusetts News, February 13, 2001.
Another Father Was Punished for Doing What Judge Langlois Suggested — SJC Dismissed Suit Without Looking at Evidence by Ed Oliver, Massachusetts News, January 9, 2001.
Middlesex County Court Charged With Corruption — Who Altered Court Hearing Tapes and Other Records? by Ed Oliver, Massachusetts News, December 2000.
Father Proves That Court Tapes Were Altered by Ed Oliver, Massachusetts News, December 2000.
It's Possible To Tamper With Tapes In Middlesex Probate Court by Ed Oliver, Massachusetts News, December 2000.
Social Workers Discredit Court's Report; Give Startling Admissions by Ed Oliver, Massachusetts News, December 2000.
Douglas' Company Is Infamous to Fathers by Ed Oliver, Massachusetts News, December 2000.
State of Massachusetts is Main Impediment to Justice by Gregory A. Hession, Esq., December 2000.
American Family Rights Association, Father Sues Court Officials In Federal Court for Kidnapping Son, (one of the first Title 42 Sec. 1983 cases), June 20, 2002.
MassOutrage: Outrageous Restraining Order Cases – Zed McLarnon by Attorney Gregory A. Hession.
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| Courts, Veteran Courts, And Civil Liberties | Contents | Index |
| Chapter 1 — Our Dysfunctional Courts |
| Next — Teach Your Children by John A. Gabor |
| Back — Is Our Family Court System Causing Blood in the Streets? by Judy Parejko, M.S. |
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