Family Courts Are Deadly Business

The Family Court System has its' fair share of problems, but one of those problems that has not had a very thorough review is that it is an ever-increasingly "Deadly Business." In fact, I didn't even start thinking about the effects outside the courtroom and outside the home regarding the effects of the public policy of single-parent custody awards and "unilateral divorce" until my recent involvement and trip in Frederick, Maryland.

There should be substantial concern over the instant murder-suicides, premeditated murders, and drastic suicides that are occurring in families that are involved with domestic relation suits or family courts around the nation.

In Frederick Maryland, several families over a six month period of time were reported as having ongoing child custody disputes that resulted in death. The most recent of which drew my attention regarding the Thanksgiving Holiday "massacre" that occurred there.

"On Thanksgiving night, police found five dead bodies in the town of Laytonsville, Maryland at 1.5 acre Unity Park. It is believed to
have been a murder-suicide with a domestic related motive. Laytonsville, Maryland is a small town that is located about twenty-five miles away from Washington." (Thanksgiving Murder-Suicide in Laytonsville, Maryland; Associated Content, November 24, 2007)

"A man shot and killed his ex-wife, their three children and himself in a small-town park where they had met for the woman to hand over the youngsters for a visit, investigators said Friday." (Police: 5 Dead in Murder-Suicide in Md; Associated Press, November 23, 2007)

The above is not the first of these type of murder-suicides in the Frederick County, Maryland area. The above Associated Press article also reported in the same article that:

"In April, a father hanged his two young children before committing suicide in rural Boyds, in Montgomery County. In March, the remains of four young children were found in a town house in neighboring Frederick. The father's body was found hanging from a bannister, and the mother remains missing. "

"There is a trend that demonstrates that custody and family court litigation has dire consequences when allowed to continue as adversarial proceedings. One party often finds themselves at the tail-end of a power struggle that results in a level of hopelessness. When someone feels that they have nothing else to lose, they can become unpredictable," states Lary Holland, Host of Get Your Justice Live and author of this document.

Looking through the various newspaper there are demonstratively a large number of articles that support child custody disputes are resulting in these disastrous conseqences. Pro Wrestler, Chris Benoit, is one of those cases that resulted in a murder suicide, along with the high-profile case of Darren Mack who was involved in the apparent shooting of a family court judge and the probable slaying of his ex-wife.

Annie Gowen of the Washington Post on February 20, 2002 in her article, Custody Battle Probled in Double Slarying:

In the cold pre-dawn hours Friday, Alan G. Bates left his Frederick town
house to fly to Birmingham for a deposition in a bitter child custody battle
with his ex-wife.

Later, in Birmingham, Bates and his ex-wife, Jessica McCord, faced off
over a conference table in a downtown law office.

Bates had planned to pick up his two daughters for the weekend that night.
Instead, his body and the body of a woman [were discovered]

Nelson Hernandez also of the Washington Post on September 28, 1005 in his article, 2nd Trial of Lawyer Accused in Plot to Kill Husband Opens; Prosecutors Cite Lost Custody Battle states:

The Bethesda lawyer accused of conspiring with her best friend to kill
her estranged husband as a way of resolving a bitter child custody battle
went on trial in Frederick County yesterday, nine months after Maryland's
highest court threw out her conviction by a Montgomery County jury.

The Wichita Eagle on April 4, 2003 reported in the article Child Custody At Heart of Murder-Suicide that:

When Eric Leckenby confronted his girlfriend's ex-husband with a gun Wednesday, he had already decided neither man would leave alive.

The Miami Herald reported on December 5, 2007 in an article entitled Tragic Couple Went to BSO Before Dying, "A Weston man and his wife visited the Broward Sheriff's Office the day before they perished in a murder-suicide" and further stated that:

"Her husband, Frank, was with her and, according to the BSO report, they were there to discuss ''a child custody'' dispute.

The BSO log, obtained by The Miami Herald, indicates the couple, who were in the midst of a bitter divorce, arrived about 5:30 p.m. and stayed in the lobby of BSO's Weston office for 45 minutes."

The Fresno Bee reported on December 4, 2007 in an article carrying the title Dead Couple Fought Over Custody, "Pair in Tulare murder-suicide sought court orderes" and further stated that:

"TULARE -- A bitter dispute over custody of a 17-month-old daughter may have factored into a late-night murder-suicide in a dark cemetery."

Some of the most recent deaths also have occured in Michigan, where two families in as many weeks have had custody disputes surrounding plots to murder other family members. "The issue of post custody hearing slayings goes beyond the simple issue of domestic violence and is indicative of a larger problem with the system itself," states Holland.

The Kalamazoo Gazette on December 12, 2007 in the first line of the story titled Custody may be linked to killing of woman states as follows:

"PULLMAN -- Investigators believe the death of a 19-year-old woman Tuesday at a
house in Allegan County's Casco Township may have been linked to an ongoing
child-custody issue, police said."

Other papers covering the aforementioned story in Alleghan county slated the story as being the second tragic incident in the past week, which should raise significant pressures on the local family court to explain what some of the possible factors are in the most recent tragedies. One of the tragedies involved an ex-wife allegedly using her current husband to kill her ex-husband which was widely reported in Western Michigan.

Similar plots and outcomes were involved in at least four known cases of domestic dispute slayings in the past year around Michigan involving Pro Wrestler Chris Benoit, a mutilation story, and now the two Alleghan incidents.

Given that the divorce rate is certainly not on the decline and no expectation of a decline over couples fighting over money, power, and children in the future, there should be a reasonable prediction that there are more tragedies to come. "A serious review of the family courts nationwide should be placed as a high priority when selecting candidates for the upcoming election because the current social institution has definitely failed the families listed in this article," states Holland.

For more information about Lary Holland, visit his website at http://www.laryholland.com.