Naples, Florida Mom Jailed After Daughter Misses School 118 Times (Florida Wacko Judge Alert)

Naples Daily News ^ | 8-18-02 | Chris Colby

[My Favorite Headache]

East Naples woman jailed after daughter misses school 118 times

Sunday, August 18, 2002

By CHRIS W. COLBY, cwcolby@naplesnews.com

An East Naples woman will spend 25 days in jail because her elementary school-age child was absent 118 times over the last four school years.

The absences included 19 times during a four-month period last year, according to school records. But Mary Phillips, 32, says her daughter, Amber, missed school because of the sudden death of her husband in February 2001. The death of their father mortified her kids and made them afraid to sleep and unable to go to school, Phillips said.

"I don't deny I didn't get her to school every day and on time, but there are extenuating circumstances here that I think shows we could use some understanding, especially now that we're doing better," Phillips said.

Phillips, 1210 Wildwood Lakes Boulevard, agreed to plead no contest Aug. 9 to failure to require a child's attendance at school, a second-degree misdemeanor that can net up to six months of jail time. The charge comes out of a state law that requires children between ages 6 and 16 to attend school regularly.

Her plea agreement had not required jail time, but Collier County Judge Eugene Turner "reviewed the file and felt that some jail time would be appropriate," said the prosecutor, Assistant State Attorney Beverly Brennan.

The State Attorney's Office in Naples became involved after officials at Avalon Elementary School on Thomasson Drive notified deputies, who investigated. In addition to the absences, Phillips' daughter Amber also was frequently tardy to Avalon, where she had attended school. Now a 10-year-old, she's a fifth-grade student at Calusa Elementary and has worked hard to keep her grades up, Phillips said.

Phillips said she is a single mother of four children. She works full-time and attends classes at International College.

Brennan said the school and the authorities are willing to help a family who has had a tragedy. But school records show most of Amber Phillips' absences occurred before her father's death, including 33 days missed in the 1999 school year.

Phillips, who says she has no prior criminal record, has hired a private attorney, Mark Casassa, to investigate whether she can withdraw her plea. Casassa said he has not yet done much research into the case.

"I'm waiting tables and he's dead. I can barely make rent," Phillips said. Now she has to spend 25 days in jail, which began Friday — 10 days served consecutively and 15 more on weekends.

She said her 42-year-old husband, Joe, died Feb. 28, 2001, after accidentally taking too much Valium before going to sleep. He had a heart problem and used Valium to help him rest at night, she said.

Everyone was home the morning they discovered him dead, and they were horrified.

"It was hard for us to get to sleep at night. My husband died in his sleep, and my kids thought that if you go to sleep you wouldn't wake up because that's what happened to him," Phillips said.

Because of the funeral, the anguish she and her children endured and the difficulty everyone had sleeping for months afterward, Amber was unwilling and incapable many days of attending school, Phillips argued.

"She was upset and having headaches and would cry all the time. She didn't want to go to school crying. She was embarrassed," Phillips said. "Three weeks after he died, they were sending truancy officers to my house."

Brennan said the law requires school officials and even law enforcement officers to have numerous verbal and written contacts with a parent to try to find out what's causing excessive absences. Brennan said the charge Phillips faced isn't one the office handles often, but it's one that is enforced when it's appropriate.

Avalon officials forwarded the matter to the authorities only as a last resort, the prosecutor said.

"They did discuss the problem with the father having died and they said there were some counseling programs they hoped would help, but her continued absences made that difficult," Brennan said.

[My Favorite Headache]

Sorry...this is outrageous. Jail? How about a program of some sort here? The kids have been through enough. Yet it is these same judges in Naples that let go raping muslims for 50k bond. This just puts the family in a worse situation.

Florida....Wish You Were Here!

[crazykatz]

The whole family probably suffers from depression and or emotional shock. Sometimes that can cause avoidance problems. Folks just sort of "freeze-up"... they cannot keep a schedule or leave the house for long periods. I have see in it the elderly after the death of a spouse. Children could be affected that way as well. Poor dears.

Many times some of the refugees we assist show some signs of this "freeze-up" but if they get some counseling, they usually move right along with their lives.

[Pontiac]

Phillips said she is a single mother of four children. She works full-time and attends classes at International College.

An East Naples woman will spend 25 days in jail

Her plea agreement had not required jail time, but Collier County Judge Eugene Turner "reviewed the file and felt that some jail time would be appropriate,"

Well hear is judicial excellance at its best. </sarcasm

This poor woman is working her butt off for her children and this judge thinks she should spend time in jail.

She waits tables. So if she doesn’t work she doesn’t get paid. So this judge is laying a real hardship on this family. And who is going to take care of these four kids while she is in jail?

[Crusader21stCentury]

He wants her on the welfare rolls, then they can take the children.
"We're from the government and we're here to help"

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Not all the Wacko judges are in California!

[My Favorite Headache]

PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING

[freebilly]

Her plea agreement had not required jail time, but Collier County Judge Eugene Turner "reviewed the file and felt that some jail time would be appropriate," said the prosecutor, Assistant State Attorney Beverly Brennan.

"Oh, your child isn't attending the mandatory Sex Education and Diversity Training Classes? Off to jail with you!"

[My Favorite Headache]

Ping list

[Pontiac]

Not all the Wacko judges are in California!

That’s comforting. Now I can sleep better knowing that segregation has finally been dealt with.

[JediGirl]

Hon. Eugene C. Turner

Judge Turner graduated from the University of South Florida, attended law school at Stetson University and received his JD from the University of Baltimore in 1974. Judge Turner served as Assistant State Attorney in the Twentieth Judicial Circuit from 1974 - 1977. He entered private general practice until 1983 when he was appointed to the Collier County Court. Judge Turner is married with three children.

From http://ca.cjis20.org/20th%20Judges/Hon.%20Eugene%20C.%20Turner.htm

[My Favorite Headache]

A USF connection to crap! What a shock!

[My Favorite Headache]

What part of England are you in right now? How was the super joint?? hahahahahaha that thing is HUGE!

[lavaroise]

Let me ask this here. Who is guilty of blatant confinement? THose asking the child go to school, virtualy incarcerated, or the parents? Those jailing the parents or those merely protesting the court ruling? These judges have way too much power, there is a need for a curtailment of power there through some kind of executive or legislative effort.

[The Duke]

I'm going to go way out on a ledge here and predict that
this judge is a Democrat. Anybody wanna take me up on that
one?

[Ajnin]

If I were to have children, I would never send them to a public school. I would never submit to the government on this issue. Educating children is the parents responsibility.

[AAABEST]

Bump to my favorite government employee.

I have a mission for you. Claw your way up in your organization, aquire some clout and go about the business of turning over some tables at the temple.

[summer]

I agree- jail was way too harsh in this matter concerning a working widow supporting 4 kids.

[Ajnin]

Got it...I shall come like a thief in the night:)

[AAABEST]

Got it...I shall come like a thief in the night:)

You jarheads know how to get things done, I've seen this first hand.

[My Favorite Headache]

Yes it is called people need to show up and vote on election days. Not just when a Presidential one is going on.