Columnist Sandra Thompson: Court system denies justice for mother

Sandra Thompson

Sunday, March 21, 1999 | 10:03 a.m.

FAMILY COURT Judge Steve Jones on Wednesday sentenced a Las Vegas woman to 20 days in jail for violating court orders she says didn't even exist.

The next day, the Nevada Supreme Court stayed the order and ordered the woman released, pending a review of the case.

The woman, Jody B., and her husband, Robert, say her civil and constitutional rights were violated. They contend Jones couldn't even point to the order Jody was accused of violating.

"He didn't give her due process," Robert says. "He's biased against her. Decisions shouldn't be made on bias, they should be based on the law."

Jody had taken her 8-year-old son out of school an hour early before the Thanksgiving holiday, which was on her visitation schedule. She also took him out of school early before Veterans Day to go to Cub Scouts. That holiday was on the father's visitation schedule.

Last week, Jones asked Jody to provide receipts of the times she dropped off and picked up her son from Kids' Quest for visitation with the boy's father. She provided all but two receipts. Robert says the receipts were in the couple's car that had been repossessed, so they couldn't get them.

Nevertheless, Jones thought that was enough to send Jody directly from the courtroom to the slammer for 20 days.

Robert points out that the boy's father, who never was married to Jody, took him on an out-of-state trip last December for an entire week without notifying Jody.

"That was contempt of court," Robert says, but the judge didn't sanction the father. "There's no justice down there (Family Court)," he adds.

Although the Supreme Court order said Jody was to be released immediately, as of late Thursday night she was still in jail. Robert says jail officials told him they were busy and that they would "get to it when they get to it."

In another case, Priscilla was sentenced last week to 10 days in jail for failure to attend a hearing. Problem is, she says, she had never been notified of the hearing.

A divorced couple recently profiled here spent 15 days in jail because the judge wanted them to end their bickering for the sake of their child.

There may be extreme cases where a jail sentence is needed to get someone's attention. Like the doctor profiled in this column who owes thousands of dollars in back child support. He doesn't pay any of his other bills, either. Yet he's walking around -- free to spend and spend.

But generally, jail time doesn't resolve family disputes, it only adds to the bitterness, anger and frustration. How many of us can take three weeks off our jobs without pay? And what about the emotional effect on the children involved?

According to a court spokesman, 27 people were sent to jail from Family Court in January and 30 in February. As of March 18, 31 people had have been jailed.

Isn't it ironic that people who have committed crimes are being let out of our jails because of overcrowding and we put people such as Jody in jail because she can't produce a receipt for a very good reason?

According to one attorney, Family Court judges are required to tell litigants up front that they may go to jail for not following an order. That didn't happen in Jody's case.

Jody has been in the court system since 1993. Several times she sought a change in child support, but the request was denied. The judge took it under advisement again last November, but to date has not ruled on the matter, Jody says. Her son's father pays about $46 every two weeks, which is less than the original amount.

In 1997, Jody had to pay the father $10,000. Although the debt was later discharged in bankruptcy court, Jody says Jones deducted it from child support payments owed her and ordered the father to pay only $100 a month. Jody also was ordered to pay $325 so the father could get a phone.

It's been a contentious, expensive battle. Jody, who married Robert in 1995, says she went broke paying attorneys' fees. At times, both she and the father have represented themselves.

Hopefully the Supreme Court will not only tackle Jody's case but all the others who are denied due process in a court system that appears to foster protracted litigation.

Family Court can't mend broken families. But it shouldn't destroy them either.