Posted on 07/10/2015 9:12:57 PM PDT by Auntie Mame
PONTIAC, Mich. (CN) - After her decision to jail three children for being rude to their father ignited a media frenzy, a Michigan judge presiding over a bitter custody battle switched their punishment to summer camp Friday.
Insisting that she had the best interests of the Tsimhoni children, ages 14, 10 and 9, at heart, Judge Lisa Gorcyca said at a hearing Friday that her earlier order sentencing them to juvenile detention did not endanger them, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Gorcyca reportedly said the children were not housed with criminal offenders and that every alternative avenue presented to the court had been exhausted.
The Oakland County, Mich., judge had issued the headline-making sentence against the children just minutes into a June 25 contempt hearing she convened when the children defied her orders to spend quality time with their father.
"You are a defiant, contemptuous young man and I'm ordering you to spend the rest of the summer ... [in] Children's Village," Judge Lisa Gorcyca had told the 14-year-old.
A transcript of the hearing shows that the boy thought he was justified in ignoring Gorcyca's order because he thinks his father, General Motors engineer Omer Tsimhoni, is abusive.
"I saw him hit my mom and I'm not gonna talk to him," said the boy, who told the court he is 15 but is actually 14, according to court records.
That remark apparently enraged the judge.
"Your father has never been charged with anything, your father's never been convicted of anything," Gorcyca said, according to the transcript. "Your father doesn't have a personal protection order against him. ... You, young man, have got it wrong. I think your father is a great man who has gone through hoops for you to have a relationship with him."
Gorcyca held the Friday hearing after attorneys moved for her to reconsider the decision and release the children. Crediting the father's request, Gorcyca reportedly switched the children's punishment Friday from a detention center to summer camp.
At the June 25 hearing, an attorney for the mother emphasized that his client had encouraged her son to meet with the father. Gorcyca called this too little, too late, however, and implied that Maya Eibschitz-Tsimhoni has brainwashed the children.
"You need to do a research program on Charlie Manson and the cult that he has," the judge said. "Your behavior in the hall with me months ago, your behavior in this courtroom ... is unlike anything I've ever seen in any 46,000 cases."
With that, Gorcyca added that she would not let Eibschitz-Tsimhoni, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at the University of Michigan, visit her child in detention.
As for the length of that detention, the judge warned that it could last into the fall or for years.
"We'll review it when school starts, and you may be going to school there," the judge said.
After questioning the teen's supposedly high IQ, Gorcyca told him "you may stay in there until you graduate from high school."
Gorcyca upbraided the younger children, ages 10 and 9, similarly after a short recess.
"I know you're kind of religious," the judge told the 9-year-old. "God gave you a brain. He expects you to use it. ... You are not your big, defiant brother who's living in jail. Do you want to live in jail? Just tell me this right now."
When the judge asked the child if she would have lunch with her father, the girl demurred by saying she would instead "go with my brother."
"You're not even going to be with your brother," the judge scoffed. "That's cool. You won't be in the same cell. I'll put in there 'Stay away from your brother.'"
Gorcyca concluded that "this is not normal behavior."
"Every single adult in this courtroom thinks you have been brainwashed," she added.
Throughout the hearing, the judge noted that the children's father objected to the sentence.
"I wanted to do this because of your horrific behavior a long time ago and your dad begged me not to," she said.
"You are so mentally messed up right now and it's not because of your father," Gorcyca added.
Questioning a teen's intelligence in front of a packed courtroom. What a sick person this judge is. There is no excuse for humiliating a kid in a custody hearing.
Judge doesn’t look as crazy as the sociopath mother.
“I know you’re kind of religious,” the judge told the 9-year-old. “God gave you a brain. He expects you to use it.”
Contemptible woman. The kid is 9-years-old and, if has been brainwashed, doesn’t deserve to be treated like this. I don’t have any respect for the judiciary system anymore. Judges are all arrogant, self-righteous asses who care for nothing but their own opinions and end games.
Last night people were blasting the judge nearly across the board. Now I'm seeing her garner some support.
I have read court records. I have read the father's statement. I would like to see some concrete evidence that the mother has brainwashed the kids. The deck is heavily stacked against her in court now.
The boy claims to have witnessed abuse. The judge is out of line
Yeah I read that bit of transcript. Sounded like the kid was making it up as he went along, seeing what he could get away with.
What I saw in that courtroom today is shocking. Even if the mother is totally guilty which I do not believe but probably some definitely, that guardian ad litem sounded like a mean SOB and the way they berated the mother was horrible.
So we agree, yes, the judge is out of line. But what will come of it? This case should be taken away from her and given to someone impartial.
Lots of commenters are saying that the judge and father may have something going. I wouldn't go that far because there is NO evidence, but they are sure sticking together like glue against the mother.
The judge praised the father to the hilt in the last court hearing and didn't have one good word about the mother. In front of the children. The transcript of the hearing the other day is online, and I read it. Who is abusing whom?
yep
Thanks.
ALL OF THE LAWYERS AND JUDGES ARE LUNATICS!
I read the PDF.
Nothing in the document explains why the “father” was not just granted some degree of unsupervised custody, instead of having the minor children being sentenced to jail.
If the mother was unfit, shouldn’t the court have stripped her of custody?
Are we all supposed to assume the judge who sent the three minor children to jail, instead of one or both of the adult parents, is sane?
“Here’s the link to the pdf transcript of the June 24, 2015 hearing.”
I read it all. The judge should be removed from the bench. She is a power-hungry bitch who’s let her black robe go to her head! She is doing irreparable damage to the young boy who has already had more than his share of crap due to his parents divorce.
Notice how there’s no indication of who and what the mother is? Way too much info missing to make a rational call on it.
“Here’s the link to the pdf of the hearing transcript where she jailed the kids on June 24, 2015. Read it and decide for yourself.”
So, basically, it’s your opion versus the judge’s?
Her take:
“Your behavior in the hall with me months ago, your behavior in this courtroom ... is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in any 46,000 cases.”
I’m prrrobably gonna go with the judge here as being the more experienced and knowledgeable on this case.
The judge is enforcing family court law and decades of jurisprudence. The courts are VERY CLEAR that their highest concern in the well being of the children is that they have access to good relationships with both parents. The court here recognizes the father has done nothing to warrant his children’s behavior towards him and holds the mother rightfully accountable. The judge is removing the children from her influence.
“Could a Judge really order someone to talk to another person and if they refuse to talk, they’re now a criminal?”
Absolutely.
Do you not recall journalists being sent to jail for disobeying a court order to reveal sources? Contempt of court is a very serious charge, not only in a current proceeding but in all future cases judges will see their record of it. It will be more difficult to get a favorable judgment in the future -in any matter.
“You don’t throw the children in jail. You would throw mom there. There is no moral ambiguity here.”
The mom skirted the contempt charge. She instead passed her contempt for the court to her kids and let them to do her bidding. The court saw through it and made sure the kids were separated from her.
no the mother sounds like the loon...
same thing happened to my brother, his certified psycho ex wife used the children as weapons in her war against my brother..
she openly defied court orders and took my brother to court for over 16 years (yes I said years)...
once when my brother asked the judge why he did not jail her for contempt for refusing to follow court orders the judge said..
“ I will not throw a mother of 3 children in jail, ever”...
this judge is not putting up with the crap, and is actually trying to deprogram the children...
when my brothers children got into their late teens is when their eyes finally opened...
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