Sunday, May 31, 2020

The Root Cause of the Minneapolis Riots

Most people would ascribe the cause of the riots this weekend in Minneapolis and around the country to racism against black men. (I suppose that would technically be racism and sexism against black men)  Although clearly there is racism against black men in this country, I think the true root cause is deeper.

Last Monday George Floyd was killed while being detained by a Minneapolis police officer. "Detained" is too nice of a word. Floyd lay on the ground while the officer knelt on his neck until he died. Three other officers watched but did not intervene.

The death sparked massive peaceful protests as well as rioting which included arson, looting and wanton destruction. Many of the business destroyed were minority and family owned. It was incredibly sad to see. 

It is especially disheartening because I live in the Twin Cities. In St. Paul, my hometown, we have a black mayor and a city council dominated by minorities. Which as a minority majority city, is a good representation of the population. Minneapolis has a black police chief and has in the past had a black mayor. Many police officers and other government officials are are black or minority. We like to think of ourselves as above racism. But we are not. We actually have some of the worst disparities between minorities and whites in education, employment and standard of living.

But it was not racism that caused George Floyd's death. It was the reality that some people are immune or nearly immune from criminal actions. Most police officers are good. But the bad ones soon find out that it is a great career if you like to be a bully and criminal because you are nearly immune from prosecution. Just like lawyers in family court soon find out that they can commit fraud with impunity. In both cases evidence rarely of ever matters.

When people do not believe that the law is fairly and equally applied, they lose respect for the law. The result? An increase in crime every day and explosive riots every so often.

We need equality under the law. We need rule of law.

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Family Court Corruption is Real

Family court corruption is real and it negatively affects all parties in a divorce - men, women, and children as well as society as a whole. It increases crime throughout society because crime in the court is the most effective way to demonstrate to the public that we do not live in a free and just society. The justice system is the final recourse for justice within the law. When it fails, rule of law fails.

Many within the legal system will admit there are a few bad lawyers but they tend to think of them as the exception. They will also admit that such lawyers are rarely punished but will dismiss that by stating that no system is perfect.

The problem, however, is not small. It is huge. In family court fraud and perjury are endemic. A fact that every lawyer working in family court knows. And any officer of the court, which includes all lawyers, who reasonably suspects that another officer of the court broke the rules of processional conduct must report it. That rarely if ever happens. This is the why I can confidently state the family court system, at least in Minnesota, is institutionally corrupt.

Sunday, May 17, 2020

The Hardest Thing

The hardest thing for me about my case is not that Spring left me, or even that she committed fraud and perjury. Her actions were not too surprising as her moral compass had been steadily degrading throughout our marriage.  It isn't even how much she hurt the children although this I admit causes me greater distress.

Nor is the hardest thing that Nelly Wince committed fraud and acted unethically. Nor is it that the judges, lawyers, the marriage counselor, and others acted unethically and in many cases criminally as well.

The hardest thing is not about the failings of any individual The hardest part is that the justice system as a whole utterly failed to provide even a semblance of justice. Clear criminal actions and violations of the rules of professional conduct were ignored and often overtly covered up. As I stated before, all lawyers who even see the evidence against Nelly Wince had and continue to have a duty to report it, but not a single one did.

When the justice system itself fails, it causes more damage to society than any other crime. Without rule of law and equality under the law, the foundation of democracy crumbles.

There is a reason this site is subtitled, "Unethical and Criminal Behavior in the Divorce Industry".

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Lynchings And The Rule Of Law

According to the Tuskegee Institute between 1882 and 1968 4,743 Americans died by lynching, 3,446 of them were black and 1,297 were white. Lynchings are, of course, illegal but most were committed while law enforcement and the judicial system at least turned a blind eye of not actively participate in the killings. In many areas lynchings were considered a proper exercise of the will of the people.

In family court today fraud and perjury are so common many lawyers refer to family court as the "court of lies". Even with absolute evidence such as I have, it is nearly impossible to achieve even a semblance of justice.

It is easy to understand why litigants lie - It works.

It is easy to understand why lawyers lie and commit fraud - It makes them more money.

Why legal institutions allow such crime to occur is a bit harder to understand. The reason, I believe, is the close friendships between lawyers working in prosecutorial and regulatory positions have with private practice lawyers as well as the fact that there is a two way flow between lawyers in the the public and private sector. 

How do lynchings relate to crime in family court? Both are attacks are the rule of law. Indeed both make a mockery of rule of law. Lawyers who know that crime occurs in family court and do nothing to stop it are like the police officers who turned a blind eye to lynchings. Their behavior is nothing sort of shameful.

Sunday, May 3, 2020

If Only It Were Like In The Movies

I saw the 1993 movie Philadelphia this past week. Tom Hanks won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a lawyer named Andrew Beckett with AIDS who sued his law firm for discrimination after they fired him.  Set in the 1980's the movie is loosely based on a real case. Hanks well deserved his Oscar. Denzel Washington and Antonio Banderas among others gave powerful performances as well. Bruce Springsteen won and Academy Award for Best Original Song.

The movie was the first mainstream film to address the AIDS crisis and it did so in a moving  manner. In the end justice prevailed and Beckett was awarded in excess of $4 million.
It's that every now and again - not often, but occasionally - you get to be a part of justice being done. That really is quite a thrill when that happens.
-- Andrew Beckett (played by Tom Hanks)
Unfortunately, like many such  stories, real or fictional, the movie made the injustice committed against me all the harder to bear. Although Beckett was in the right, his case was weak. His evidence open to interpretation. My case is strong and for many of the crimes committed against me the evidence is simply indisputable.

If only justice in real life worked like it does in the movies.