The child was asleep in
George's vehicle and Niner gently picked her up and placed her in his friend's
vehicle. George soon quarreled with Niner eventually
shoving him while threatening that he would never again
see his daughter.
Niner's friend jumped in
between the two, ending the confrontation. Niner
and his friend returned to his residence.
The many issues involving George went through his mind.
He remembered when George had pulled a gun on his
pregnant daughter and that he twice threatened to kill his own
mother. He recalled the numerous times that
George was 302'ed including the occasion with the SWAT
team. He remembered that while he tried to recover
from addiction, George offered him cocaine, even leaving
it on his nightstand in the morning. He remembered
how George would eat Fentanyl patches, scraping the drug
off the patch with a knife and licking the knife clean.
He pictured his daughter weeks earlier, sitting alone in
an idling car while George shopped.
Niner left his daughter
with his mother and went to the police. He
reported the incident with George. He returned
home and phoned friends as well as his attorney.
He had no way to know what George's threat meant - that
he would never again see his daughter. So Niner
phoned the police and informed them that he would not be
returning his daughter that evening because he worried
about the child.
That evening and the
following day, Ms. Mauger took up the issue with several
police departments, even phoning the FBI. She persisted until
an officer accompanied her to Niner's residence where
she took physical custody of the child.
A hearing was held in
Courtroom 11 before The Honorable Rhonda Lee Daniele.
It dealt with the Alleged Contempt of the custody order
and the Emergency Custody Petition.
No. 07-13058
---------------
Contempt/Emergency
Custody
---------------
Courtroom 11
Tuesday, February
18, 2009
Commencing at 9:20
a.m.
Before: The
Honorable Rhonda Lee Daniele, Judge
Sworn Testimony
Stated in the Courtroom:
ATTORNEY: "When you are working, who watches
your daughter?"
MS. MAUGER: "She goes to the Goddard School.
And if I work in the evening, my father keeps her.
ATTORNEY: "Your father?"
MS. MAUGER: "Yes."
ATTORNEY: "Has your father recently been cited and found
guilty of leaving your daughter unattended in a
vehicle?"
MS. MAUGER: "What does that have to do with my
--"
THE COURT: "Plenty. Answer the question."
MS. MAUGER: "Yes."
ATTORNEY: "When would that have been?"
THE COURT: "Amazing. All the questions you didn't
object to answering that were totally irrelevant and
that's probably the most relevant question that's been
asked so far and you question what does that have to do
with it?"
MS. MAUGER: "Yes, Your Honor."
Ms. Mauger was in court
Pro Se and she questioned Niner.
Stated Later
in the Courtroom:
MS. MAUGER: "Let me rephrase that. Why do
you feel that her welfare is at jeopardy because I moved
back in with my father and grandmother temporarily?"
NINER: "First of all, why do I feel that it's a safety
issue? Well, in the last year and a half that
you've had Name Redacted, you've been evicted
from four different addresses."
MS. MAUGER: "Objection. That's not true."
THE COURT: "Excuse me. That's not grounds for
objection."
NINER: "You were evicted four times, Address Redacted."
MS. MAUGER: "In the last year and a half?"
NINER: "In the last year and a half, yeah. It's on
record you and your father were evicted from that
address."
MS. MAUGER: "Within the last year and a half?"
NINER: "Last two years, I'm sorry."
MS. MAUGER: "Try three."
NINER: "Try two."
THE COURT: "Excuse me. This is not a time for the
two of you to have a conversation. Everything that
comes out of your mouth at this point, Name Redacted,
should be in the form of a question. If you can't
put it in the form of a question, then you can't say it.
Continue, Name Redacted."
NINER: "Thank you. You were evicted from Address
Redacted, you were evicted from Address Redacted when
you lived there with Name Redacted, and then you were
recently evicted from, I believe, Address Redacted.
That's very disconcerting. Your employability is
not even existent. You can't hold a job. And
then let's go back to your father now. Considering
your father has held a gun to you while you were eight
months' pregnant, considering the fact that you walked
in on your father when you were 14 years old on one of
his many suicide attempts, considering the fact that
your father was selling cocaine out of our house, the
fact that your father -- how do I say this -- is
addicted to his pain medications, the fact that your
father is and has been 302ed by you several times, his
mental instability, the fact that he will not own up to
his own crimes, the fact that he left our daughter
unsupervised in a vehicle when she had a 102 degree
fever."
MS. MAUGER: "Name Redacted --"
THE COURT: "Wait a minute. Are you finished with
your answer?"
NINER: "I believe so."
Stated Later
in the Courtroom: The question
refers to George and his interaction with the child
MS. MAUGER: "How would you think that he is not a
proper caregiver considering you've never been there
first hand when has interacted with Name Redacted?"
NINER: Because of the fact he left our daughter
unattended in a vehicle, number one. Number two,
George recently took our daughter to his probation
officer's in Norristown. You don't take a
two-year-old child to go see your probation officer.
I'm sorry, it's a little, well. I know from the
past. I know the things that your father has said.
Recently when George and Name Redacted were
outside he asked Name Redacted to lie."
MS. MAUGER: "Objection, hearsay."
THE COURT: "Objection overruled. Go ahead."
NINER: "But you're father is very upset with me because
he feels that I'm the one who put him in jail. In
fact, you're the one who called the police."
Stated Later in the Courtroom: Niner's attorney
questioned George
ATTORNEY: "Have you
ever seen a therapist?"
MR. MAUGER: "A therapist."
ATTORNEY: "Psychologist?"
MR. MAUGER: "Well, there's a difference."
ATTORNEY: "Okay. Have you ever seen a
psychologist?"
MR. MAUGER: "Yes, I have."
ATTORNEY: "Why have you seen a psychologist?"
MR. MAUGER: "Different things, different reasons."
ATTORNEY: "Can you be a little more specific, please?"
MR. MAUGER: "They're personal reasons."
ATTORNEY: "But since you were watching your
granddaughter, we need to know what the reasons are."
MR. MAUGER: "What does that have to do with my
granddaughter?"
ATTORNEY: "We need to know exactly what your mental
state is, whether you could be a danger?"
MS. MAUGER: "Objection."
THE COURT: "Well, you know this is touchy ground,
because he has a right not to reveal information
concerning his mental health. But once his mental
health is put in question, as concerns the best interest
and welfare of a child, then I can draw an adverse
inference if he doesn't answer the questions."
MS. MAUGER: "Right."
THE COURT: "So it's his choice whether he wants to
answer."
MR. MAUGER: "Well, I don't want it to be adverse.
The last time I saw a psychiatrist was at my regular VA
checkup. I'm thinking that was, maybe, five
months."
ATTORNEY: "Again, I apologize. I don't want to
beat you up, but I still haven't gotten any specific
information. I'll ask it one more time, and then
feel free. Why are you seeing a psychiatrist? What
are your problems?"
MR. MAUGER: "I mean, I was depressed for personal
reasons. I was hurt pretty bad nine years ago.
I get depressed, you know, every once in a while."
Stated Later
in the Courtroom:
ATTORNEY: "In the past,
did you attempt to take your own life?"
MR. MAUGER: "Not really. I was never really
serious about it. If I would have, I wouldn't be
here."
Stated Later in the
Courtroom: Ms. Mauger
questioned George
MS. MAUGER: "Mr. Mauger,
I'm sorry. You stated that you were not aware that
it was a law that you cannot leave a child unattended in
a car?"
MR. MAUGER: "Yes ma'am."
MS. MAUGER: "And you also, correct me if I'm wrong, you
did it because you were trying to look out for her best
interest because she was already sick?"
MR. MAUGER: "Absolutely."
MS. MAUGER: "How would describe your relationship with
Name Redacted?"
MR. MAUGER: "Well, I would like to think that I would be
grandfather of the U.S. if anybody really saw us
interact. Mr. Name Redacted has seen us
interact. In fact, when I dropped Name Redacted
off one day, he was in the bathroom, I was unaware of
his being there, and she came out and said daddy, daddy,
daddy, daddy. I said, no, no, honey.
Grandpop, grandpop. And then Name Redacted
came out. And we sat there and played and wrestled
and crawled around the floor. And when she started
to cry, she came to me, because I'm probably the most
familiar person with her other than you. And, you
know, we -- I take her everywhere I go. And, yes,
I did take her to the parole officers. I felt
those guys were pretty safe. I have a lot of faith
in the law. Some people don't, but I do still.
I took her there because I didn't want to leave her with
my mom. She's starting to talk now. So we spend
a lot of time doing ABC's, and she's learning a lot of
words. And it's just wonderful. I would go
through the gates of hell for that child. Excuse
me, Your Honor."
Judge Daniele heard
testimony on a range of topics. She instructed
both the mother and father of the child to attend a
parenting seminar. She did not find Contempt
of the custody order. She did alter the custody
arrangement to permit the father of the child more time
with his child. She also ordered both Niner and George
to obtain hair follicle testing for drugs.
Note to George:
Hair follicle drug testing, uh-oh...
Judge Daniele spent
quite a bit of time basically chewing out both the
child's mother and father over their inability to get
along and act in the child's best interest.
They've been before her numerous times on custody and
PFA matters. She even stated the following: "You
two both better grow up and learn how to get along for
the sake of this child or I'm telling you, I may not be
a juvenile court judge, but I'll take her away from you.
And I'm not kidding. From both of you."
What do you suppose Ms. Mauger might do after such a hearing? Well, if
you're Ms. Mauger you soon impose again on the Court and
file another Emergency Relocation Request. Yep.
