Travesties of Justice

Financial Discrimination

Bill co-owned a profitable retail outlet with his wife at the time of their divorce. When it came to dividing the property, the judge awarded the business to the wife and the property and the building to the husband.

Bill felt that even though the business was worth more than the property and it was his life’s work, rather than fight, he would settle for the property. In the next court proceeding, the wife stated that she was “uncomfortable” paying rent money to her ex-husband. So the judge came up with a creative option. Bill now had the choice of either selling the property to his ex-wife for $100,000.00 dollars less than it was worth or he would have to sell it to the second bidder that the realtor brought to him. Coincidentally, the court appointed realtor was present when the judge pronounced his award. All he had to do (based on the restrictions placed on the sale of the property) was to send two friends in with lowball offers and Bill would have been forced to sell to the second bidder, regardless of the price. He decided to sell the property to his ex-wife instead of the realtor and let her take the windfall.

Spousal Abuse

Rex and his wife Tanya were thinking about a divorce. They had two young children. One day, when they were in the house together, Tanya came up to him and out of nowhere, began to yell and curse at him and get in his face. He backed up into a corner as she screamed at the top of her lungs. Finally, she hit him several times and he pushed her aside so he could get out of the house. She called 911!

Four police officers showed up and questioned both Rex and Tanya as to what happened. She claimed that he had hit her. They looked for bruises and could not find any except an old one that had been there from weeks ago. One of the police officers shoved Rex toward the patrol car and told him to get in and Rex pushed the police officer’s hand off his shoulder. Within seconds, the four officers had tackled Rex and he found himself at the bottom of the pile in his driveway. He was hauled off in the patrol car as his 5-year-old son watched.

Fortunately he was released on bail quickly and a court date was set. At this time, a restraining order was placed on him and he was not allowed in his home. He could not get any of his personal belongings (including his computer which had all his work-related files on it), and he stayed with a relative from that point on.

The divorce proceedings began prior to the court’s dealing with the assault charges. Once in court, the lawyers began their battle. Throughout, Rex had been known as the “violent offender” even though this had never been proven and was untrue. From that point on, Tanya won every issue that came to court and she got everything she asked for.

During all of this, the local district attorney was attempting to get a plea bargain from Rex. He refused. The DA wanted him to agree to 6 months in jail and then 2 years of probation while attending a violent offender course 3 nights a week. Rex told him to take a hike. The plea-bargaining went on for 3 months and finally the DA, recognizing that he had no solid evidence, offered 2 months of violent offenders class. Rex told him to "shove it up his ass" and he would go to court if necessary to prove his innocence. This time, the DA would not back off.

Rex got rid of his attorney who had not done a very good job to date and hired the former DA for that area who was back practicing law. He paid him a one time retainer fee of $2,500.00 to “see what he could do” about this plea bargain. The next day his new, well-connected lawyer called back and told him the case had been dismissed.

Rex eventually found out that Tanya’s attorney had taught and encouraged her to use these tactics in order to provoke Rex into a physical confrontation with her. It turned out that this lawyer had a reputation for training her clients to use similar tactics along with false allegations, an almost certain way of assuring victory in court from the day of the incident forward.

Still Guilty After Being Acquitted

Steve and Joyce were having many difficulties. His mother had been visiting and staying at their house for a month. It was a big house, and she was given her own room. When Steve returned home one day, his wife Joyce was waiting at the house but his mother was gone. He couldn’t figure out where she went as she generally never left the house without him.

Joyce came in and insisted on going into his mother’s room, which was locked. She went into Steve’s office to find the key, and he told her that he didn’t feel it was right for her to go into his mother’s room. She insisted on going in and demanded the key, but he refused. She began searching through his drawers until she found it. He told her to give it back to him, and when she didn’t they scuffled a bit over the key. This was not an actual fight; he was only trying to get the key back. In the process, her hand was slightly scratched. She called 911, and soon the police arrived. When they did, she answered the door. Steve was arrested, put in jail and released on bond the next day. The judge placed a restraining order on him, barring him from setting foot in his home and he was unable to see his children for one year.

Three weeks later, realizing what she had done, Joyce went to the courthouse to drop the charges. The court informed her that if she dropped the charges, they would continue to press charges against Steve. The hearing took place 6 months after the original incident with a jury trial at the defendant's request. Steve represented himself in court. He called Joyce as his witness and proceeded to ask her what had happened that day. She was honest and told the truth. The jury deliberated and found Steve innocent. He felt vindicated and was overjoyed thinking that he would now be able to see his children. Unfortunately, this was not about to happen any time soon. The judge refused to release the restraining order, and Steve was unable to return home or see his children for an additional 6 months.

Take note, that this trial happened in one of the most liberal counties in America.

These are just a few examples of the gender bias that occurs every day in the courts of America.