Columns
Judge Punch disregarded the law
Because of the sensitive nature of family court cases the general public rarely gets a chance to see what really goes on inside the courtroom.
In some ways that is a good thing in that it protects the privacy of the litigants, at least in theory. The downside is that when judges are not held accountable they may say and do things that are not necessarily in the best interests of the parties involved, especially the children.
Thanks to the Internet and a controversial ruling right her in Orleans County we have been given a tremendous opportunity, access to a complete transcript of a family court proceeding.
The case involves an Orleans County resident and the mother of his child who is remarried and lives out of state. The basics are as follows, mother has custody of the young child, she puts the kid on a plane and sends him to New York for scheduled visitation with the father in December of 2005.
After the child arrives here, the father goes to Judge James Punch, Orleans County’s all purpose judge with a mood for every occasion, and he requests full custody of the child because he can provide a safer and morally sound environment in his trailer with his live-in girlfriend. Judge Punch decides that he will grant the request, gives dad temporary sole custody, and in turn mom hops a plane to New York to appear at a hearing to determine who the child will live with.
This is where things get a little strange.
It turns out that mom, Rachel Bevilacqua, is somehow associated with a group that is sometimes called a “for-profit” church and at other times called a church parody or performance group, but its proper name is the Church of the Sub-Genius.
To be quite honest, this Sub-Genius thing is by most people’s standards a bit on the offensive side — OK maybe a little more than a bit. If you read the transcripts of the February, 3, 2006 hearing, which are available on the Internet, you get the sense that Judge Punch is not too fond of their practices either. You may even say that he seemed more concerned with the Church of the Sub-Genius than he was about the house of the child. To take it further, the line of questioning he permitted would almost suggest that he is less than a genius, or at the very least he has been on the bench way to long.
The case has been largely ignored by the major media — as far as I can tell only WROC-TV out of Rochester did a brief piece which is still available for viewing on their Web site. Nonetheless it has found a receptive audience on the Internet mainly via blogs. A savvy Googler should have little trouble finding the details albeit mostly presented from the mother’s side.
There are a lot more things very disturbing about this case, not the least of which is the complete disregard that Judge Punch showed for the law. Inasmuch as I think men are drastically shortchanged when it come to custody proceedings in this case there was no compelling reason evident to warrant a child being arbitrarily taken from its custodial parent before she had the chance to answer formal charges, that should be a matter of last resort and only if there is an imminent danger.
The other thing a person who takes the time to read through the transcripts will notice is the hypocrisy displayed in the courtroom. The judge questions the morality of the mother who is married and yet there is no mention of the fact that the father is not. There is also a line of questioning that leads a person to believe that the mother and stepfather, both college graduates, were not qualified to home school a 10-year-old child. Where are the home school advocates on this one?
In the end the one person everyone seems to forget about is the child. There was expert testimony that the child was having some emotional problems. Gee, I wonder if that could be related to the fact that his parents live in different parts of the country?
Judge Punch, in what could certainly be perceived as an admission of his mishandling of the custody matter, removed himself from the case. The actual custody trial took place in Batavia a little over a month ago. When I called the mothers attorney he informed me that as of Monday their still was not a final ruling.
One final note, if you know anyone who is considering letting a court decide the fate of their children give them a copy of the transcript, and remind them that the money spent on lawyers would have paid for the kid’s college education.
Thom Jennings lives in Albion. For comments, write to reganm@gnnewspaper.com.
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