Voters have right to remove Lemkau through election (San Bernadino County, California)

Great editorial by Jeff Belmont at the Hi-Desert Star. Regular Dastardly readers should remember this case, where abusive father STEPHEN GARCIA murdered his 9-month-old son during court-ordered visitation.

http://www.hidesertstar.com/articles/2010/05/15/editorial/doc4bee49868db42189538935.txt

Guest Soapbox

Voters have right to remove Lemkau through election
By Jeff Belmont
Citizens to Remove Judge Robert Lemkau
Published: Saturday, May 15, 2010 2:19 AM CDT

The shocking murder of 9-month-old baby Wyatt has received national attention, and has brought to light the troubling reality that bad decisions by some judges can lead to tragedy. It is the duty of all family court judges to prioritize children’s safety. When judges fail to uphold that responsibility, voters have the right to remove those judges from the bench.

As elected officials, judges can and should be held accountable by voters when they fail to do their job. As Judge Robert Lemkau has failed to protect children or prioritize their safety, as shown by his bad judgment in Wyatt’s murder case, voters should cast their ballots to remove him on June 8.

As tragically illustrated by the baby Wyatt murder, the decisions made by family court judges can have life-and-death implications for children. Judges must carefully assess and consider the evidence presented, and must avoid making assumptions or snap judgments.

In family court cases where allegations are made that a child’s life has been threatened, judges should immediately put protections in place to ensure the child’s safety, while ordering a thorough investigation into the matter.

After reviewing the court transcript and media reports of the Tagle case, it is clear that Judge Lemkau made many grave errors in judgment that led to this tragedy.

First, Lemkau placed a baby in danger by failing to order an investigation into the allegations that the father, Stephen Garcia, made death threats to kill Baby Wyatt. Lemkau also failed to ensure baby’s Wyatt’s safety — he refused to grant the mother’s request for supervised visitation. Instead, Lemkau ordered the mother to turn her baby over to the father the same day of the hearing — a fatal error. It was during an unsupervised visitation granted by Lemkau that the father, Stephen Garcia, shot the baby to death, then killed himself.

According to media reports, the mother, Katie Tagle, presented e-mails as evidence of death threats by the father. Lemkau claims in the media that the source of the e-mails could not be authenticated — however, the reality is that Lemkau could have easily authenticated the e-mail’s source by requesting that the Sheriff’s Department trace the ISP (Internet service provider) to confirm if the e-mail was sent by Stephen Garcia’s Internet account. A baby’s life hung in the balance, yet Lemkau did nothing to investigate.

Lemkau showed further bad judgment when he failed to take into account that Judge David Mazurek recognized the danger of the situation and granted an emergency protective order (EPO) to Ms. Tagle. Judge Mazurek took action to protect baby Wyatt in issuing that EPO, but it was Lemkau who refused to uphold that protective order.

Equally troubling is that court transcripts show Lemkau appeared to have already made his decision, before hearing any evidence. Lemkau assumed without investigation that the allegations of death threats were false — almost immediately after the hearing began, he declared, “One of you is lying, and I’m very concerned.”

Also, it is clear Lemkau does not recognize his grave errors in judgment, and he will continue to put children in danger — in a media interview discussing the case, he stated, “I made the appropriate decision.”

Finally, the fact that Lemkau essentially called a litigant a liar in his courtroom is a possible violation of judicial ethics. Court transcripts show Lemkau stated to the mother, “My supposition is that you’re lying.” Such unprofessional conduct is unbecoming of a judge.

…Lemkau has failed in his job to protect children, and unless Lemkau is removed, he will continue to endanger children. Therefore, Judge Lemkau should be held accountable by voters, by being removed from the bench on election day.

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Jeff Belmont is the founder of Citizens to Remove Judge Robert Lemkau, formed in response to the murder of 9-month old Wyatt Garcia. The group’s website is http://www.removelemkau.com/.