Dumb and Dumberer
That pretty much sums up today's courthouse experience.
I barely slept at all last night. Between the house and the money and the trial and a partridge in a pear treeeee, I pretty much knew I'd be up ridiculously late. Still, I was up and at 'em ridiculously early. I was at the courthouse by 8:45 with my large nonfat caramel macchiato in hand, and believe it or not, My Fearless Lawyer was there at 8:50. We got started pretty close to on time, starting with the psych NP. She was okay, but she's flakey and wasn't nearly as good a witness as we would have hoped. Still, she got the point across, and that's good enough. Bob's teacher was next, and she did a great job. By the time they were all done with her, it was noon, so we broke for lunch.
After lunch, it was db's turn to take the stand.
Jesus Tapdancing Kee-rist.
You know when you watch a comic or some other performer and the performance is so bad, you stop wanting to laugh and start cringing and just feeling generally bad about what you're watching? Yeah, it was like that. He lied like a dog while his own lawyer was questioning him, claiming I'm just looking for a magic pill to solve all Bob's problems, that I've repeatedly threatened him with taking Bob away from him forever, that I've told him no judge or court or otherwise can tell me what to do, etc. He expressed doubts that Bob's medical providers have indeed given him ALL of their records when he requests them. He also expressed his disbelief that Bob still attends the preschool he's been at for the past almost two years. He submitted a proposed parenting plan affording me two hours with Bob every Wednesday and alternate Saturdays and Sundays. He stated he intended to have Bob attend a "magnet" school in his school district, and that he had been in contact with this school by telephone.
My attorney got him to admit that we have no phone or in-person conversations, and that in none of my emails to him have I ever claimed to be beyond reproach by judge or court or whatever, nor have I ever threatened to take Bob and prevent db from ever seeing him again. He got db to admit he has no basis for his conspiracy theory concerning Bob's medical providers and their records or where Bob goes to preschool. The ad litem got him to admit he lies about his address in an effort to obtain county services, and that he fails to file tax returns. She also got him to admit he's on Klonopin and that he has in the past smoked pot. (She admitted his psych records, wherein he admits to his therapist having smoked pot since after Bob's birth, a fact he denied on the witness stand today.) After she pointed out db had waited too long to start the enrollment process for Bob at the proposed magnet school, she got him to essentially admit he's a racist (he made a crude joke about how a certain judge's decision to change the school district boundaries in the interests of desegregation screwed up the whole works).
At 4:35, he was dismissed from the witness stand.
We go back on 8/22 to hear Bob's therapist's additional testimony and present closing arguments. Db's lawyer requested a week of summer vacation in the meantime--which pissed db off because he wanted three weeks--and the judge basically said "fuck no" and gave him an extra day on his next three weekend visits between now and 8/22. Db was not happy about this. I was. It also came up that db has allegedly mailed a check for June's child support to either his lawyer or my lawyer or whatever--either way, I guess it's en route, and his lawyer states he will pay July's child support by the end of July, and intends to move that his payments be paid on the last day of the month instead of the first. (Frankly, I'll believe it when the checks are in my hand.) The ad litem requested additional fees (to the tune of $1300 from me, which I have no idea how I'm going to pay).
So--it was a favorable day for our case. It was a bad day in that this is what Bob will have to deal with for the rest of that dumbfuck's life.
And now, I have to go. My shoulders and arms are KILLING me from being knotted up all day.
I barely slept at all last night. Between the house and the money and the trial and a partridge in a pear treeeee, I pretty much knew I'd be up ridiculously late. Still, I was up and at 'em ridiculously early. I was at the courthouse by 8:45 with my large nonfat caramel macchiato in hand, and believe it or not, My Fearless Lawyer was there at 8:50. We got started pretty close to on time, starting with the psych NP. She was okay, but she's flakey and wasn't nearly as good a witness as we would have hoped. Still, she got the point across, and that's good enough. Bob's teacher was next, and she did a great job. By the time they were all done with her, it was noon, so we broke for lunch.
After lunch, it was db's turn to take the stand.
Jesus Tapdancing Kee-rist.
You know when you watch a comic or some other performer and the performance is so bad, you stop wanting to laugh and start cringing and just feeling generally bad about what you're watching? Yeah, it was like that. He lied like a dog while his own lawyer was questioning him, claiming I'm just looking for a magic pill to solve all Bob's problems, that I've repeatedly threatened him with taking Bob away from him forever, that I've told him no judge or court or otherwise can tell me what to do, etc. He expressed doubts that Bob's medical providers have indeed given him ALL of their records when he requests them. He also expressed his disbelief that Bob still attends the preschool he's been at for the past almost two years. He submitted a proposed parenting plan affording me two hours with Bob every Wednesday and alternate Saturdays and Sundays. He stated he intended to have Bob attend a "magnet" school in his school district, and that he had been in contact with this school by telephone.
My attorney got him to admit that we have no phone or in-person conversations, and that in none of my emails to him have I ever claimed to be beyond reproach by judge or court or whatever, nor have I ever threatened to take Bob and prevent db from ever seeing him again. He got db to admit he has no basis for his conspiracy theory concerning Bob's medical providers and their records or where Bob goes to preschool. The ad litem got him to admit he lies about his address in an effort to obtain county services, and that he fails to file tax returns. She also got him to admit he's on Klonopin and that he has in the past smoked pot. (She admitted his psych records, wherein he admits to his therapist having smoked pot since after Bob's birth, a fact he denied on the witness stand today.) After she pointed out db had waited too long to start the enrollment process for Bob at the proposed magnet school, she got him to essentially admit he's a racist (he made a crude joke about how a certain judge's decision to change the school district boundaries in the interests of desegregation screwed up the whole works).
At 4:35, he was dismissed from the witness stand.
We go back on 8/22 to hear Bob's therapist's additional testimony and present closing arguments. Db's lawyer requested a week of summer vacation in the meantime--which pissed db off because he wanted three weeks--and the judge basically said "fuck no" and gave him an extra day on his next three weekend visits between now and 8/22. Db was not happy about this. I was. It also came up that db has allegedly mailed a check for June's child support to either his lawyer or my lawyer or whatever--either way, I guess it's en route, and his lawyer states he will pay July's child support by the end of July, and intends to move that his payments be paid on the last day of the month instead of the first. (Frankly, I'll believe it when the checks are in my hand.) The ad litem requested additional fees (to the tune of $1300 from me, which I have no idea how I'm going to pay).
So--it was a favorable day for our case. It was a bad day in that this is what Bob will have to deal with for the rest of that dumbfuck's life.
And now, I have to go. My shoulders and arms are KILLING me from being knotted up all day.
posted by Mitzi Green at 5:09 PM
4 Comments:
That's great news, M. I am so relieved that things went well today, I kept checking here to see if you'd updated or not.
Glad to hear that DB lived up to his name, as usual. Geez.
I'm so glad it went well. DB sounds as crazy as ever.
This is looking very promising for you Mitzi. Having to admit he's lied, taken drugs, been libellous about you, not sorting out his so called proposed plans.
No judge in their right mind is ever going to let a total numpty like that raise a child.
It's a good sign the Judge didn't allow db the extra sign. I take it as a personal good sign it's continued to 08/22!
Good luck and I'm sending positive energy to you, Ben and Bob.
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