Justice Revisted

You might remember <a href="http://www.nowherethoughts.net/sarpysam/index.php?p=678" target="_new">me talking about</a> the judge who wouldn't let a women have a divorce from her abusive husband. It didn't make a lot of sense at the time but I went on the story. Now I have come across a <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=397821" target="_new">little more information</a>.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>But Bastine, who retired on Friday, said the issue is more complex. Attorneys for Shawnna Hughes did not immediately disclose that she was pregnant in the midst of the divorce proceedings. Under state law, an ex-husband is presumed to be the father of any child born up to 300 days after a divorce and can be liable for child support, Bastine said.<br />n<br />n"You needed to serve him and give him notice that his rights as a father or as a non-father were being determined in that matter. It wasn't done," the judge said. <br />n<br />nFurther muddying the waters is Shawnna Hughes' reliance on public assistance. The state of Washington objected to the divorce because it might leave the state unable to identify a father and pursue him for repayment of welfare money used to support the child.</blockquote><br />n<br />nSo it's not an illegetimacy issue as much as a child support issue and even the state objected to the divorce for the same reason. Looks to me like the laws of the state on Washington need to catch up with modern culture on this issue and the judge is not so much to blame. I wondered about the situation at the time and wondered if there wasn't some legal reason for the decision and now I understand better. The divorce is still doable, the soon to be ex just needs to be informed of the pregnancy properly and get in the record that it is not his and all should work out.<br />n<br />nWhat this whole story says to me is people are their own worst enemies.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>The judge noted that Hughes has a court order that prevents Carlos Hughes from contacting her. He is now in jail in Montana awaiting trial on federal drug charges, Sloyer said. <br />n<br />n"It's not forcing a woman to live with a batterer," Bastine said. <br />n<br />nHughes, a vivacious mother of two young sons by Carlos Hughes, said they married in 1998 and he began to beat her after she became pregnant with their older son. <br />n<br />nShe says she became romantically involved with a childhood friend, Chauncey Jacques, and that he is the father. Jacques is now in the Spokane County Jail awaiting trial on a federal drug charge.</blockquote><br />n<br />nNow I know, innocent until proven guilty, but this womens soon to be ex-husband and boyfriend are both in jail on drug charges. This women needs to get away from men entirely, straighten herself out, and find a decent relationship that doesn't concern people in prison. Sorry, people that make these kinds of choices in life need help themselves. She had enough respect to get out of an abusive relationship now she needs to find enough respect to stay away from dangerous people.<br />n<br />n<b> Justice does not come from the outside. It comes from inner peace. Barbara Hall</b>