I spent an afternoon in jail for non support of a child that wasn't mine back in the late 80s. Cost me attorney fees but that was the end of it.
Michigan legislative action thread
Posted on 01/27/2015 1:35:02 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine
DETROIT (WXYZ) - Carnell Alexander is a wanted man. The reason? He refuses to pay child support for a child that is proven to not be his. As a result, a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
7 Action News told you about Carnell Alexander in October. He said he was looking for help clearing up a terrible mistake.
Alexander says he learned about the paternity case against him during a traffic stop in Detroit in the early 90s. The officer told him he is a deadbeat dad, there was a warrant out for his arrest.
“I knew I didn’t have a child, so I was kind of blown back,” said Alexander during an interview in October.
He would later learn this happened because his ex needed help caring for her kids.
“I put him down as father to get assistance,” she told 7 Action News.
She didn’t realize that would start a paternity case. The state would want to get reimbursement for welfare benefits from the child’s dad.
A process server turned in paperwork to the court saying Carnell had been notified of the paternity hearing. The paperwork said the notification happened at a house in Highland Park. Because on paper he had been given notice, when he didn’t show up at court, he was legally listed as father by default.
7 Action News found out there must have been some mistake. On the day Carnell was allegedly served at a house in Highland Park, the Michigan Department of Corrections says he was actually incarcerated for a crime he committed as a young man.
He could not have possibly been served as recorded. It is unknown whether this was fraud or a case of mistaken identity.
By the time Carnell learned about the paternity case, judges told him it was too late. Legally he owes the state more than $30 thousand for assistance paid to care for a child.
“A child that I did not father, that I did not biologically create, that I was not involved in raising,” said Carnell. “It is not fair.”
DNA tests prove the child is not his. The real father was in the child’s life, but the state never pursued him for payment as far as Carnell and the child’s mother know.
Carnell refuses to pay. As a result, the warrant was issued for his arrest. He plans to turn himself in on Friday.
“I will go to jail if I have to because I am tired of the mishandling of the case,” said Carnell.
“It’s not right,” said Murray Davis of the National Family Justice Association.
Davis says there are thousands of men in Carnell Alexander’s shoes because Michigan doesn’t have paternity fraud laws that protect men.
When there is evidence a woman mistakenly or purposefully declares the wrong man as husband, it doesn’t necessarily impact paternity obligations.
Davis did a study a few years back that looked at how many of the men who are declared fathers by default in Wayne County are indeed the father. He says DNA tests found 79% of the time they are not.
“It is so easy to say anyone is the father while applying for assistance,” said Davis.
Attorney Cherika Harris has volunteered to try to help Carnell Alexander. She said she will ask a judge to lift the arrest warrant when he turns himself in Friday.
Yawn. Happens EVERY day.
Follow up:
Detroit man turns himself in after not paying child support for a child that is not his
http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/detroit/detroit-man-turns-himself-in-after-not-paying-child-support-fo-a-child-that-is-not-his
23JAN2015
DETROIT (WXYZ) - The state told a Detroit man: Pay child support for a kid that is not yours or go to jail! On Friday, 7 Action News went with him as he turned himself in at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice.
“I stayed up all night. Couldn’t sleep thinking about it,” said Carnell Alexander.
Carnell says no matter what the state orders, he won’t pay child support for a child he doesn’t know and that DNA tests prove isn’t his.
“I haven’t even had a chance to speak to him except for one time when we took a DNA test,” said Carnell.
This is a case that started in the late eighties. An ex-girlfriend of Carnell’s had a baby. She needed help providing for the child. She was told that in order to get welfare she had to name a dad on paperwork. She put down Carnell’s name.
The state then started a paternity case against Carnell to collect money for the assistance provided.
A process server turned in paperwork saying Carnell was given notice at a house in Highland Park. It is something the Michigan Department of Corrections says is impossible. At the time, Carnell was incarcerated for a crime he committed as a young man.
Carnell says he would find out about the paternity action in 1991 when he was arrested for being a deadbeat dad during a traffic stop.
He has been fighting it since.
“I’m almost homeless. I’m almost in jail. I am out of work. My money is threatened to be taken,” said Carnell.
“I’m scared. I’ve been before this judge before, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
This time he wasn’t alone. He had Attorney Cherika Harris representing him. She volunteered to represent him pro-bono after seeing his story on 7 Action News.
The judge said he will not go to jail for now. She put the case on hold until next month so Attorney Harris could have a chance to argue that he should not be responsible for the child support bill.
“I thank you,” Carnell Alexander told us for telling his story. “Thank you Ms. Harris.”
Carnell says he is not only worried about how this impacts him. He says something needs to be changed so that men who are wrongfully named fathers are protected.
“We can be defaulted into being a father of a child that is not ours. I don’t understand the law, but we do have that law in place,“ said Carnell.
The law is “whatever”.
Sounds about right. The only evidence needed is the woman naming the man as the father. In our PC society, that is all that matters.
Hell, when I look at my tax bill each year I see I'm the default father of a bunch of kids that I can't even claim as dependents.
I’m guessing this guy is definitely guilty of being male and probably the wrong color as well.
So called “Family Courts” are one of the most evil inventions in modern society.
Sadly, this is often done. Welfare benefits SHOULD NOT BE PAID to single mothers.
They are sons of the President. You have to help pay for them, even though you aren't the baby daddy.
Yes, indeed, and for many years. The state just wants to nail somone to pay for the kid, if possible.
Shut up and pay.
Perhaps the process server should go to jail for fraud.
If only she named the father as Bill Clinton.
This is one of those cases that you would think Law Firms would jump at, SUE Everyone involved PERSONALLY and BANKRUPT ALL OF THEM.
18 U.S. Code § 242 - Deprivation of rights under color of law
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/242
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/1983
42 U.S. Code § 1983 - Civil action for deprivation of rights
Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.
As in this case, I had an employee come in to HR to add a new kid to his COMPANY SPONSORED health insurance coverage. The kid was not his but yet he was ordered by the court to provide insurance coverage for the child as well as child support.
I don't remember what the company's stance was in our obligation to provide coverage for that child, but the fact remains is that this guy was being screwed by the court system.......
The woman needs to be in prison for fraud.
My name is Friday. I carry a badge.
The boss is Captain Spelling. My partner
Sgt. Gannon and I were working the sperm
patrol out of South Division when....
Yes. They make the Red Queen look sensible.
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