AOC & Marin Court Crimes Protest 

Please join the Center for Judicial Excellence, JusticeCalifornia and the California Protective Parents Association for a Day of Action as we protest the wholesale destruction of child custody evidence by the CA Administrative Office of the Courts and the Marin Family Court during a state audit of the Marin and Sacramento Family Courts. 

BACKGROUND ABOUT THE AOC & MARIN COURT CRIMES PROTEST

Marin’s  family court problems have been the topic of lurid headlines for the last 10-15 years.
 
In late June 2009, Marin was one of two counties of 58 in California selected by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to be investigated by the State Auditor, due to ongoing reports of illegal and inappropriate conduct that was harming innocent children. The vote to investigate Marin and Sacramento Family Courts was unanimous- 12 Republicans and Democrats voted to thoroughly investigate the use of court appointees in family courts to ensure that children are not being harmed.

Less than three months later, Marin Court Executive Officer Kim Turner, Presiding Judge Verna Adams, the California Administrative Office of the Courts, and Marin Family Court Services engaged in a mass destruction of Marin Family Court Services child custody documents. The destroyed mediator working files and notes contained such things as pictures of children's injuries, witness statements and letters, notes of interviews with parents, children and third parties, medical reports, police reports, and much more.

This past Spring, after an unprecedented eight month delay in the family court audit, the California State Auditor released correspondence sent to the Administrative Office of the Courts in which the Chief Legal Counsel for the Auditor was forced to threaten the AOC with subpoenas in order to access the needed court records and personnel in order to conduct the family court audit.  The letter details the numerous attempts that were made between July 2009 and March 2010 to gain the full cooperation of the courts, and the court's unreasonable delay in providing full and unfettered access to all of the individuals and records necessary for the completion of the audit.

Shortly thereafter, an agreement between the State Auditor and the AOC was reached, and the audit resumed.

Last month, the Administrative Office of the Courts (which approved the document destruction, although it was well aware of the reports of Marin County Family Court misconduct) investigated ITSELF by conducting a very limited internal investigation of itself and some Marin County Family Court personnel (while failing to interview the former Family Court Services supervisor who took part in the destruction before suddenly “retiring”). Their brief report states that the document destruction was done to “make space” - not to destroy evidence to keep it from the California State Auditor. The AOC states in their report's Overall Conclusion that there is "nothing that appears to be illegal concerning the destruction of mediator working files, or the destruction of 'handwritten notes' prepared by mediators in family law matters included in those files."

A review of California Penal Code sections 135, 96.5 and 182 raises significant questions about this overall conclusion by the AOC, which is why we are gathering to protest and call for a formal criminal investigation into this weeks-long shredding party.

Please come back often to this site for regular updates on the AOC & Marin Court Crimes Protest.
 

HELP SPREAD THE WORD

Click here to download and circulate the flyer for the upcoming Marin Court Crimes Protest.

Click here to download a copy of the AOC's report about the Marin Family Court's destruction of documents.

Click here to read CJE's press release about the Marin Family Court's destruction of documents.

Click on the link below to read the Marin Independent Journal article about the court's destruction of documents.

Marin Independent Journal
Friday, August 6, 2010
Document purge in Marin family court draws scrutiny.