Tag: Law

18 Year-Old Returns to Mom after Nearly 12 Years!
Villain Judge Enabled Father to Keep Her Away

[You may also read this article here: https://womenscoalition.substack.com/p/18-year-old-returns-to-mom-after

Literally, the minute Macey turned 18, she came back to her mother!
On the eve of her 18th birthday, Macey was in Laney’s arms!
Macey was taken from Laney when she was 7 years-old, her father having been empowered to do so by a St. Landry Parish, Louisiana Family Court judge. In March, it would be 12 years that Laney and Macey have been deprived of each other.

Despite the father keeping Macey away and attempting to turn her against Laney, he was never able to truly alienate her from Laney. Macey kept her love for her mother and always longed to be back with her.

“Macey never forgot about the special bond we always had together…no matter what that monster would tell her. She knew better & waited for the day she could finally break free from him.”

LANEY’S STORY
Shortly after Laney became pregnant with Macey, her husband became violent and seriously emotionally abusive.

“He would go into rages, lasting for hours and hours of verbal and physical abuse. His eyes would scare me to my core, they were empty and full of hate.”

Laney’s ex was so violent, and apparently had drug issues, that he was sentenced to a lock-down drug and anger rehabilitation program for two and a half years. This was part of a plea deal for the criminal charges filed against him: three counts of aggravated assault and battery with the intent to use a deadly weapon, also threats to kill Laney’s family.

“By the time deputies arrived, family members had wrestled a loaded shot gun out of [the father’s] hands and had him pinned to the ground in self-defense.”

Laney filed for divorce while her husband was in the program. He continued to emotionally abuse and threaten her while in the program.

“You’re going to pay—I will make sure of it!”

The father was, not surprisingly, released early. Laney insisted that his visits with Macey be supervised, which made him angry, so he filed a motion for custody.

FAMILY COURT VILLAIN
St. Landry Parish, Louisiana Family Court Judge James P. Doherty, Jr. had been assigned to the divorce/custody case. Laney initially got sole custody because the father was literally locked up for years due to his violent behavior.

Judge Doherty ordered both parents to take drug tests. Laney passed; the father did not comply with his order. Doherty let that slide. He ordered only Laney to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, not the criminally-charged father. Laney passed the assessment with flying colors, but already the gender bias was clear.

Little Macey had some serious, life-threatening medical issues that needed constant vigilance, so the father was ordered to meet with doctors and take classes so he could properly care for her. He did not comply, and again Judge Doherty let him slide, putting Macey at great risk.

SUPERVISED; THEN NOT
A common ruse in Family Court is for judges to make like they are concerned about children’s safety by initially ordering supervised visits with the abusive father. Then, not long afterwards, transition to unsupervised visits—because the abuse is “in the past”. [Of course it is in the past—he’s been supervised since the last assault.]

That’s what happened with Macey. At first visits were supervised by Laney’s family, then by the father’s mother, then vacated altogether. After returning from only the second unsupervised visit with the father, Macey was in distress, saying her bottom hurt really bad.

Laney took Macey to the ER and a forensic evaluation was conducted. This included a medical exam where photographs were taken of the injuries Macey had sustained. A rape kit was not done, supposedly to spare her “trauma”, but the medical exam found clear evidence Macey had been sexually assaulted, as well as her pediatrician.

Macey was 4 years-old. Laney was in shock.

“When they told me all of this, I went nuts. I couldn’t believe it.”

Laney was granted a Restraining Order [RO] from a different judge which stopped unsupervised visitation, the first of many. The Sheriff did not refer the case to the D.A., claiming there was “insufficient evidence” [read: male entitlement].

Less than a year later, Judge Doherty dismissed the RO and reinstated unsupervised visits. Thereupon, Macey told a nurse and her pediatrician he was still sexually abusing her. Her pediatrician wrote to the court,“I have a strong suspicion that some form of sexual abuse is occurring based on the history that has been given to me and my exam…”

At some point, CPS founded the sexual abuse as well. Another RO by another judge was put in place.

Judge Doherty then brought out the big guns to aid in his cover up. He appointed a custody evaluator who acknowledged there was substantial evidence of abuse. But he knew why Judge Doherty had hired him, so he added, “Macey is likely to have been either consciously or subconsciously influenced to levy sexual allegations against Mr. Smith.” Sound familiar?

Then the inevitable, insider “reunification therapist” was appointed who accused Laney of alienation and recommended unsupervised visits with the father resume. So Judge Doherty, armed with these fabrications that he himself had dispatched, resumed unsupervised visitation between Macey and her bravely named abuser.

ONE LAST TRY
Laney hoped the abuse would stop after all the problems it had caused. But that was not to be. When Macey was 7 years-old, she came home in great pain and admitted to Laney the abuse was still happening.

Convinced the abuse would continue to be covered up in St. Landry Parish by family court, the D.A., law enforcement, and CPS, Laney took Macey to a hospital in an adjacent parish. There Macey was given meds for pain and a forensic exam was done.

The forensic [SANE] exam found many signs of forced sexual assault: penetration, tearing, hematomas, and bruising all around the area. Law enforcement wanted to prosecute, but the crime had been committed outside their jurisdiction. So they sent the rape kit to St. Landry, where it is unclear whether it was ever tested for sperm or DNA, likely not.

Judge Doherty completely dismissed this compelling new evidence that Macey was being serially sexually assaulted by her father. He would not allow any testimony on the record that supported she was being abused.

“Judge Doherty wouldn’t let any of our witnesses to testify on the stand on Macey’s behalf. He refused to admit any of the evidence of abuse.”

Laney had fought as hard as she could legally for Macey’s safety. Her attorneys were useless, a waste of money. Nothing had worked and she was out of options.

ATTEMPTED ESCAPE
Laney gave up trying to protect Macey in Family Court and fled into hiding. But she did not get far.

Laney was caught at the Canadian border and arrested.

The D.A. colluded with Doherty’s cover up by filing “abduction” charges against Laney, this despite the abundant evidence confirming she was fleeing to protect her child. Judge Doherty then used this criminal indictment to terminate Laney’s parental rights. This is a common, collusive tactic used to silence women and children who report paternal abuse.

The order terminating her parental rights gave the father license to disappear with her and not have to let Laney know where she was or even if she was alive.

Villain Doherty took a medically-fragile 7 year-old away from her loving, primarily bonded mother and gave her to a substantiated child rapist.

That was the last time Laney saw Macey for a very long time.

The father moved out of St. Landry Parish with Macey. Desperate, Laney hired a P.I. to find her. Laney persisted filing documents trying to at least be able to know where she was, but Judge Doherty would remove them all from the court record.

Laney spent every dollar she had trying to find her. No luck.

GOING PUBLIC
With nothing left to lose, and hoping community support would help, Laney went public. Very public. And the community got on board with her.

Laney organized protests in front of Family Court. A local reporter covered the protests and wrote an excellent, in-depth article about the injustice inflicted upon Laney and Macey: The Parent Trap: https://theind.com/articles/10857/?fbclid=IwAR0yatqyYQ94E57wYF4Pb09BuadIWLMztcsLjQ3IXjBUhsUK4oWQLCwI6hY

All the publicity did not cause Judge Doherty to do the right thing. He did not budge. Nor did the D.A. budge on dismissing the unfair kidnapping charges against Laney. These charges, which carried a lengthy prison term, were held over her head for five whole years.

Laney also took part in a Coalition Campaign by making a 2 minute video attesting to what she had endured: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rugMHpa4Ko0

A VIRTUAL PRISONER
About two and a half years ago, a Texas nurse contacted Laney and told her Macey was living at a hospital-connected children’s home. Soon the truth would unravel about what had happened to Macey since Judge Doherty bequeathed upon the father the power to disappear with her.

The father had moved with her to Texas with a stepmother and stepsiblings, and he continued to abuse her. When she was 9, she bravely told a school nurse, a mandated reporter, that her father was abusing both her stepbrother and her. CPS ordered her to be out of his home, so the father put her in an inpatient hospital facility for children with medical needs.

Apparently, CPS could not legally contact Laney, as her parental rights had been terminated by Villain Doherty. It is not known whether CPS also removed Macey’s step-siblings or just her.

The father chose to put Macey into a children’s home rather than allow her to go back to her mother where she desperately wanted to be. Laney had no idea where they were or if she was even still alive. That is the kind of father judges are vesting with power over innocent, vulnerable children.

The father continued to control every aspect of Macey’s existence in the children’s home. She lived in a small room with a TV. She was not allowed to leave the facility and rarely allowed to go outside for sun or fresh air; she was not allowed to go to school; she was not allowed to have friends or a social life.

Macey was kept a virtual prisoner.

The father instructed the hospital to give Macey birth control pills and puberty blockers, despite the fact it was a female only facility and she was not allowed out. Why would she need birth control pills? Or puberty blockers? And why would a hospital agree to that?

MACEY’S ANGELS
These were the horrible living conditions Macey endured from age 9 to o18. But when she was 15 and a half, Nurse Helena believed her, and risked her job to enable secret contact with Laney. Ms. Helena was caught and fired, but two other nurses kept the contact going until Macey turned 18. These three angels made her life bearable in those last couple years and gave Laney solace her daughter was alive and she could talk to her and tell her how much she loved her.

Laney jumped through many hoops in Texas trying to get Macey legally returned to her, but was never able to even get visitation. The father was allowed to keep full control over her until she was 18.

That is Laney’s and Macey’s incredible story.

Laney survived the unimaginable: complete loss and disappearance of her precious daughter. She is thrilled to have her back after all these years.

And Macey also survived the unimaginable: loss of her mother, her primary bond, and forced to life under the control of an abuser. She has to catch up on education, do some trauma recovery, and deal with some medical issues caused while in the children’s home, but she is happy to finally, after 12 long years, be back home with Mom.

Congrats to Laney & Macey!

Like, comment and share this article in support of Laney and Macey!

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