Posted on 12/29/2009 12:11:31 PM PST by onyx
The ADN has become nothing more than a hack journalist website that is one step above the fringe bloggers here in Alaska.
They are going to cover the circus that will take place in the custody battle between Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin.
And there are two judges that have had their hand in this circus that is about to take place.
First to Judge Gleason. I know about this Judge.
I had a First Amendment case against the State of Alaska and she was the judge assigned to the case. She came up with an asinine ruling from the bench that stated I had lacked standing to challenge the campaign sign law when I ran as a candidate.
Under state law, I could have been fined for displaying a sign on "state highways", but in Gleason's tortured reasoning, she found I had no legal standing.
Go figure.
Now in her latest use of tortured logic, she rules against using pseudonyms Jane and John Doe to lend some privacy to a private matter.
Then the other judge, Alaska Superior Court Judge Kari Kristiansen ruled "that Bristol Palin hadn't provided any evidence that Tripp would be harmed by the anticipated publicity. She ordered all the sealed records opened."
Right....
She finds that there would be no evidence that would harm Tripp with the anticipated publicity.
How about when he gets older? Hmmm, the judge never considered that one.
Nothing like seeing re-runs of dear ole' Dad air his 15 minutes of trashing his grandmother in public, er make that in court and then in public.
Moreover, when it comes to sealing records; in cases of child abuse, records are sealed many times to protect the privacy of the parents. Or how about adoption proceedings? Same thing.
In custody cases of alleged abuse, (Child in Need of Aid (CINA) cases (Peter A. v. State of Alaska)), or adoption cases, it is Standard Operating Procedure to seal cases and I can tell you that they are not sealed to protect the child.
In Peter A. v. State of Alaska the Court stated:
Peters additional argument that the adjudication order is not moot because an adjudication carries a permanent social stigma is also unpersuasive. All the records in CINA proceedings are sealed.26 There is no publicly available record that Peters children were adjudicated in need of aid. Peter acknowledges that CINA proceedings are confidential but argues that this fact is irrelevant because during the course of the litigation, OCS contacted many of the people with whom [Peter] has the most contact his health care providers, his childrens teachers, and his tribe and that these people are thus aware of the child welfare proceedings against him. This may or may not be so. After all, the proceedings were not against him and indeed the essence of his challenge on the merits is that the CINA petition was based only on Marthas misconduct. But because all parties must maintain the confidentiality of all information in the court file, issuing an opinion on the merits and reversing the superior courts confidential adjudication order would not publicly remedy any possible social stigma, to the extent it exists. Because the remedy he is requesting would not redress his alleged injury, social stigma does not give Peter standing to appeal the adjudication order.27
The Alaska Supreme Court uses the broad language of the "best interest of the child" standard when it comes to gag orders or sealing custody cases.
And in CINA cases, the confidentiality of records is done to protect the accused as was hinted by the Alaska Supreme Court in their case law, when they spoke about the social stigma attached to such proceedings.
(a) Confidentiality of Records. The records of a child in need of aid proceeding are confidential. Only parties and their attorneys may have access to the court file except as otherwise authorized by statute or court order for good cause shown. Parties and their attorneys shall maintain the confidentiality of all information in the court's file. Other persons authorized access to the file are subject to such conditions as the court may set with notice to the parties.
That means one party can't air the dirty laundry in a case. And It has nothing to do with the publicity affecting the child.
Moreover, what Kristiansen has done is; she has created an environment that will promote the animosity between parties which never serves the best interest of the child.
That is why family mediation is becoming popular.
And again, Kristiansen misses the mark on what is the best case scenario for handling a custody case.
After looking at Kristiansen's file, she shouldn't be handling child custody cases, because even though she has had (according to her) litigated a few custody and CINA cases, it is telling she lacks the sensitivity to handle a case like this, when she comes up with her bogus reasoning that the publicity will not harm the child.
That alone makes me think she shouldn't even be a judge. She hasn't considered the long term effect. But Judges like her never do. It's all about the here and now and what the time is on the clock in the court room.
Instead of being a judge, Kristiansen should still be practicing law for some environmentalist group.
Interestingly, I spoke with my friend who works for Alaska's child services and she said all of the judges out there in the Mat-su valley are idiots, with the exception of Judge Sanders.
And she should know, she get's to deal with their bad decisions.
A while back, I had raised the topic of Levi and the custody issue here.
Knowing Alaska family law extensively, the kid will get his butt handed to him on a platter if certain Judges are assigned.
There are good ones and there are bad ones. And if he get's a good one, then he's a gone'r.
But I don't think the kid really cares. A good lawyer who was representing their client, would have told him to pay his child support and act like a good father and not disparge (sic) the family.
Now given Levi has Rex Butler representing Levi and they have been on a whirl-wind-disparge(sic)-the-family-tour, child custody is not the concern here.
My bet is it's just a ploy to keep his 15 minutes of fame alive and put the Palin family in a bad spotlight. And a good judge will ask Butler how does he think he has represented his client well.
Or is he using the court to push their 15 minutes of fame?
In the end, will Levi have a case of legal malpractice against Butler? After-all a good lawyer would have told Levi to shut the hell up and act like a father.
For Levi, it's too late to play the custody battle, he has opened his mouth too many times that he comes across as a liar.
(emphasis added)
It's evident that I hit the nail on the head when Rex Butler filed the affidavit in court:
"I know that public scrutiny will simplify this matter and act as a check against anyone's need to be overly vindictive, aggressive or malicious, not that Bristol would ever be that way, nor that I would. But her mother is powerful, politically ambitious and has a reputation for being extremely vindictive," Johnston said in his affidavit. "So, I think a public case might go a long way in reducing Sarah Palin's instinct to attack."
Johnston said he didn't want to hurt or embarrass his son -- or Bristol. He thinks Sarah Palin, not Bristol, is acting with "sheer malice," Butler wrote in a court filing.
"He feels Sarah Palin, through her lawyer, under the guise of Bristol Palin's name, would run roughshod over his very bones," Butler wrote.
Evidently Rex Butler lacks confidence in the judge to control the proceedings and the attacks from Sarah Palin? Or perhaps he is conducting some outlandish "story telling" in court documents in order to get his client some more "face time".
And it is evident that Kristiansen has decided to turn a private custody matter into a public spectacle, which will get a lot of publicity.
So now Bristol has a bad judge assigned to her case.
With that reality, my bet is; the ticket prices to get and sit in Kristiansen's court room will fetch a high price. And send in the clowns, because they will be wanting to tell every secret told in motion practice and testimony in court.
The focus here however, will be on the Judge, because family law and how it operates in Alaska, is truly a three-ring-circus.
Judge Kristiansen, we'll be watching and writing about your rulings..... After all, who knows, you may be the next pick to be sitting on Alaska's Supreme Court.
That is Alaska's judicial system for you...
Tyranny from the bench...
Read about the judges.
It won't be long before Levi is making good money in gay porn now that he's a real celebrity.
“Better people than these judges have tried to take down the Palin’s. They’ll also end up on the big steaming pile of unfulfilled vengeance. Enjoy.”
Agreed.
Ricky Hollywood is out of work, he needs some way to pay his rent.
In the year since Levi found his new fame, he’s posed for Playgirl and celebrity dated a cougar-comedianne-reality show star.
Levi can do as he wants but none of it shows the child’s wellbeing at heart.
Says Levi.
Sure has a lot of love in his heart for his biological son, dudn't he?
He’s such a pathetic reject.
sarah fan UK
Did you get this ping?
Is there a professional board of responsibility & ethics OR something in the state of Alaska?
Apparently not.
Thomas Lamb has laid it out and determined that Bristol Palin has a bad judge assigned to her case.
With a father like this, I’m not sure how much difference it makes. If Mr. Playgirl doesn’t get to make a clown of himself in the courtroom, he’ll just go on TV and do it anyway.
Which is not to say that this judicial decision makes any sense. But at least it won’t do a whole lot more harm than the liberal mafia and their prostitute press are already trying to do.
It is what it is: politics against Sarah Palin”
It is that, and more.
BUT- this could all backfire on Levi:
Now all of his immature rantings will be public record, and I’ll bet that he doesn’t get custody—at all.
He is a mouthy wise ass POS. Glad that the daughter didn’t marry him. It would have compounded the problem.
I think Levi’s 15 minutes are up. He’s not the top story on Entertainment Tonight or hosting the Insider anymore.
Yes, I think we share the same view.
Rock Hollywood is likely to rue the day he decided on this unfortunate course.
Give me first shot at
running roughshod over his bones’ right here on my property, and there won’t be enough left for Sarah to have a go at him.
I have absolutely no patience with men who think their penis and it’s happiness is the most important thing in the world.
Nope.
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