Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The latest latest

From LawyerFriend:
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Peggy's sentencing was today. Judge Brown sentenced her to two
years of probation in which she must pay: $68 in state fees,
$60 victim's fund fees, $960 court supervision fees, $728 in
court costs, and $650 in attorney's fees. She must continue
her employment. She was sentenced to 1 year in the
Washtenaw County Jail (credit one day served). She may serve
the sentence over a period of thirty weekends and if she does
so, the balance of her sentence will be suspended. She must
also serve either 80 or 180 hours of community service (I am
not sure which number the judge said) which will entail her
telling various groups about what she did and the repercussions
of her actions. If she violates any term of the probation she
could face prison time.
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For the first time since I have been following this case, I actually
heard Peggy speak. She said that her parental rights had been
terminated (the way she described it, the termination of her
parental rights had been an "unselfish act of love" for her
children--as if it had been her idea). She said she had ended
her relationship from AJ's father. She is taking parenting/anger
management classes and volunteers at the Hope Center . She
cried openly when describing what she had done to AJ and to
the relationship with her children generally. I gathered that
there was, on her part, some expectation of no jail time. She
explained to the judge that if she were jailed, she would lose
her job as (I think) assistant manager at White Castle and
"she would be right back in the same bad situation as before."
Apparently Peggy’s attorney stated that jail time was not
warranted because there were no “serious or permanent
injuries” involved. The prosecutor then rebutted this with a
reading of AJ's injuries aloud in court: acute and chronic subdural
hematomas consistent with shaking, broken ribs ([the injuries]
2 weeks old at the time of treatment), pelvic fracture ([the
injuries] about 10 days old at the time of treatment), a broken
arm--a total of 8 broken bones altogether which a doctor
described as being like "torture". A couple of people in the
courtroom actually gasped when the list of injuries was read.
I think this played a big part in the judge's decision NOT to
waive jail time. The prosecutor said that AJ was in therapy
and didn’t want to talk about his mommy.
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This matter seems over for a while—I am not sure if Peggy
will ever be able to have her parental rights reinstated. I
think it’s safe to say that if she screws up probation, she
probably won’t. I am sorry you guys didn’t get AJ, but
let’s just hope Peggy’s mother stays healthy long enough
to raise the kids.


I asked specifically if grandma stated she was going to adopt them, but haven't heard back yet.

What little I know now

All I've heard so far is from Court Woman:
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"I heard she released her parental rights as well. She said her mother was going to adopt the kids…I hope you can file a competing party petition if that’s the case."
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But she didn't say "as well" to what!
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Grandma is taking the kids to South Carolina on a vacation/family reunion tomorrow so that should give us time to figure out the competing party petition thing--if that's what we want to do.
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I just wish there was some resolution to this whole thing already. I'm tired.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Hmmmmm

CourtWoman said, in response to a question, "that won't be an issue...since [Peggy] isn't going to have the kids." (italics mine)
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Well, they're going somewhere safe, anyway. That in itself is a relief.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Whew! ONE thing settled

As of 8:30 tonight, the Supreme Court has declined to hear the case against Chrysler's sale to Fiat.
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At least ONE thing in our lives is settled! My tummy is unknotting just the weensiest bit. Of course, that is no promise of continued employment, but at least the company won't get pieced out.
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Now, only one more major thing to be settled. Next Wednesday. I hope. I hope something happens either way. I know how I'd like it to end, with AJ coming home to us, but any closure will be welcome at this point. I'm getting a little frayed around the edges and Rescue Remedy just ain't taking the edge off anymore.