He also was responsible for a controversial child custody award. Judge Thomas Greenwell awarded custody of a 3 month old breast feeding infant child to a man who was not adjudicated as the child’s parent. The case was not even assigned to judge Greewell but was assigned to judge Marisela Saldana who was present and in court the day of the hearing. Nueces County practices walk through defaults whereby attorneys walk to a judge and have them sign orders. These hearings are held without notice to the other party which was what happened in this case. This man walked into court with attorney Gregory Spivy and said the baby is his and the judge said ok and awarded him joint managing conservator.
Got to weigh in. My courthouse is in Johnson County KS but sounds similar. First of all, the award of custody to the man of a 3 month old baby is ex parte. That means that the mother can get a hearing within a set period of time to contest it. I’m guessing that the father had a bunch of evidence that mom was a druggie or had abandoned the baby or whatever. Any judge can sign it if the assigned judge is unavailable. In my experience judges are not terrible impressed with breast feeding. Its a factor but not the controlling factor. Second, courthouse security - in our courthouse, the judges can and do carry. The DA lawyers can carry and don’t have to go through security which really makes the rest of us lawyers cranky. But on the other hand, there are lawyers who should probably not carry. Our security is so tight that I have changed my wardrobe. In the winter I will wear close toes shoes but always carry my own slippers to change into. Lots of jewelry I can no longer wear. In summer I wear my wedge crocs. (they look better than it sounds). I would look at whether he made the drug cartels angry.