Columnist Sandra Thompson: Mitzi continues fight from prison cell

Sandra Thompson

Sunday, July 11, 1999 | 9:29 a.m.

Sandra Thompson is vice president/associate editor of the Las Vegas Sun. Reach her at 259-4025 or through e-mail at thompson@lasvegassun.com

A LAS VEGAS woman, who fled Nevada with her 9-year-old son in violation of custody orders, last month pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor. She was sentenced in District Court to time served -- six months.

But to Family Court Judge Steven Jones, that wasn't punishment enough. He found her guilty of nine separate acts of contempt, and sentenced her to 180 days in the Clark County Detention Center, which tacked on another six months.

Jones was willing to modify Mitzi's sentence to time served only if she was found guilty of a felony.

While Jones has every right to see that his Family Court orders are followed, it appears he also was trying to affect the outcome of a criminal case in another court.

Basically, Jones was forcing Mitzi to make a choice: Plead guilty to a gross misdemeanor and spend more time in jail, or plead to a felony, which carries a far greater stigma, takes away some of her rights and would make it difficult to find a good job.

Acting more like a Family Court judge, District Judge Joseph Bonaventure sympathized with Mitzi, saying she is "an emotional person who loves her 9-year-old."

"I think there is a bond between mother and son, but it has got to be filled in the proper way," Bonaventure said, telling Mitzi, "You have to be strong during this ordeal."

Wearing jail clothes, and with her wrists and ankles in shackles, Mitzi told Bonaventure: "I can't fight Steven Jones."

Bonaventure answered: "I understand that Judge Jones is a very fine Family Court judge." He then urged Mitzi to get a job when she is released from jail and hire an attorney to fight the custody issue in Family Court.

But that has been the problem for Mitzi, whose case has been profiled before in this column. She has represented herself throughout much of her long Family Court battle because she can't afford an attorney. The wife of her ex-husband, however, works for a prominent law firm, which has been handling the other side of the case.

As a result, Mitzi says, she has not received a fair shake in Family Court.

Since her divorce in 1991, Mitzi says she has been legally harassed by her ex-husband's constant filing of motions. Her case file lists 165 court actions since April 26, 1991. She went from having sole custody of her son for eight years to only two weekends a month visitation.

Mitzi has been jailed twice for allegedly violating court orders or being delinquent in child support ($1,000). Her bank account was frozen, and her wages were garnisheed to the extent that her net pay one week was a whopping $1.57. She lost her job and her condo; her car was repossessed.

In an unwise attempt to fight a deck stacked against her, she falsified an affidavit and committed the ultimate sin of fleeing with her son. However, two wrongs don't make a right, and Mitzi is learning there are painful consequences to making bad decisions.

Mitzi says the system pushed her over the edge.

"This is a case that cries out for somebody to care," says Craig Walton, professor of ethics at UNLV.

Walton was one of Mitzi's advisers when she took courses at UNLV to finish her degree while working and caring for her son. She wanted to better herself. It was a bold step for a woman who had been in an abusive marriage and was undergoing counseling.

"She had the guts to try to turn things around," Walton says.

Mitzi, on her own, filed an appeal with the Nevada Supreme Court to overturn the change in custody, which she says was an illegal order. The appeal recently was dismissed because it wasn't filed in a timely matter.

"You can't call this a system of justice," Walton says. "She hasn't been able to get a fair shake any place."

Everyone tells Mitzi she must hire an attorney, yet she can't afford one. Ironically, she was assigned a public defender in the criminal case, but he couldn't fight the Family Court order.

Privately, some legal eagles are keeping an eye on this case. There is concern about Family Court's reach into other court jurisdictions. There also should be concern about whether Mitzi's jailings, frozen bank accounts and garnishees were effective ways to enforce court orders or attempts to exact a pound of flesh.

It's a "social ethics question," Walton says.

Meanwhile, Mitzi sits in jail, trying to scrape up enough money for stamps to mail and file legal motions.

"She's angry and hurt, but she's still trying to fight," Walton says. "Some other people would just give up."