| Bernalillo County Chief Judge William Lang
takes custody away from a mother without her knowledge and hands a
two-year-old child over to father, who pleads guilty to charges of
battery of the mother and cruelty to children. This long,
sordid, and terribly sad story begins years in 1995, when Judge
Lang was on the bench in Bernalillo County family court. A September
7, 1994 police
report documents charges against prominent Albuquerque dentist,
Bill Marietta of battery and cruelty to children for beating his wife
and pulling their son, who was just over a year old at the time, from
her arms. Two months later, Bill Marietta was prosecuted by the District
Attorney's office for the domestic violence charges, and he pled guilty
with a corresponding judgment
of guilty on December 1, 1994. When their son was two years old,
the mother notified the father in writing that she intended to move
out of the state with the child. As a result of his angry reaction,
she followed police advice and filed for a protective
order in the county where she lived, Torrance County, on December
12, 1995. An Order
of Protection was issued on the same day by Judge Fitch. On the
very next day, December 13, 1995, the father's attorney, Linda Andre-Wells,
filed a very harsh and vindictive emergency
motion in Bernalillo County claiming that the mother intended
to leave the state without permission. Judge Lang's office set
the hearing for two days later on December 15, 1995, only providing
two days for mother to be notified and for her attorney to prepare
a response. The transcript
of the December 15, 1995 hearing is appalling. Mother was not present
because she was out of town (although still in New Mexico) and her
attorney could not contact her with only two days' notice. Mother
did not even know the hearing was occurring. Judge Lang is very flippant
and crass in his attitude. Most disturbing, he states, "The long
and the short is that I want the child turned over to Mr. Marietta."
He also ordered the police to be used to forcibly remove the two-year-old
child from his mother. In spite of the judgment against father Bill
Marietta for cruelty to children and for beating the mother, Judge
Lang awarded
him full custody of the two-year-old that day, without any judicial
notice that custody was to be discussed (a denial of constitutional
due process rights), and without mother's knowledge that the
hearing even took place! Mother's attorney, Kathleen Carter, clearly
disturbed by Lang's Order, stated all the reasons for her concern
in the Emergency
Motion to Reconsider the order filed on January 2, 1996, stating
that mother did not know about the hearing and could not testify,
father did not testify, the court-appointed Wiseperson did not testify,
no judicial notice of the custody issue occurred, the court-appointed
custody expert did not testify, and Judge Lang provided no means of
any contact at all between mother and the two-year-old child. The
Motion also states that father, dentist Bill Marietta, used the police
to have the child removed from the mother when she returned from her
trip. Since she had no knowledge of the order, she resisted the police
and had to spend two days in jail. Judge Lang denied
the reconsideration, and refused to order any kind of contact
between the mother and child. For the last ten years, Lynette has
continued her pleading with Bernalillo County Family court for the
right to be a mother to her son. The record of this case is an absolute
disgrace to New Mexico and the legal community - including a court
order for Lynette to pay for a "bonded, armed guard"
so that she could visit her five-years-old son. Most of us shudder
at the thought of a five-year-old being around a gun. In this case,
the Court ordered it! "The long and the short is . . ."
that ten years ago Judge Lang knowingly removed a two-year-old boy
from a loving mother and placed him with an abusive father who had
just pled guilty to domestic battery and to cruelty to a child prior
to Lang's order! Chief Judge Lang's legacy - a "trail of tears"
- the tears of a two-year-old boy ripped from his mother and placed
with an abusive father, Albuquerque dentist Bill Marietta. |
Do you have information of concern or
have you filed a complaint to an official regarding this Judge?
CFJ would like to know! Please contact us via email info@family-justice.org
class telephone (505) 319-3486, or postal mail at P.O. Box
21996, Albuquerque, NM 87154. Help us root out problem persons
in the court system!
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| last updated on
October 8, 2007
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