Could Judge Peter McBrien have prevented Madeline's Murder? (Sacramento, California)

Too often, the media treats the murder of children at the hands of their fathers as inexplicable "tragedies" that no one could have foreseen. The dad--who all the neighbors swear was a "good guy"--must have "snapped." But this is not the case at all. Very often, the father in question has a history of domestic violence, child abuse, and/or general criminality that is ignored. Very often, when the mother has finally left the father at great risk to herself, the courts turn around and give custody/visitation to the man who has abused her and/or her children. Then we're told by the fathers rights sympathizers that we're supposed to feel sorry for the killer daddy and how he was "mistreated" by the courts.

It's all nonsense. Abusive criminal fathers are remarkably successful at gaining access to their children--and they use that access to put the mother and/or children at continued risk of additional violence. It's time that judges be held accountable for their poor decisionmaking. Children are dying as a result of it.

From the California Protective Parents Association:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 18, 2011
CONTACT: Anne Hart 916-715-5243

Could Judge Peter McBrien Have Prevented Madeline's Murder?
Controversial Judge at the Center of A Tragic Death: Citizens Protest

Sacramento, CA - On Thursday, September 22, 2011, community members will hold a protest from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm at the Sacramento Superior Court, 720 9th Street, Sacramento regarding the abject failure of Sacramento family court to protect children in custody disputes. The protest will begin on the corner of 9th and H Streets.

One judge, Sacramento Family Court Judge Peter McBrien, has been a focus of community scrutiny for over a decade for his lack of judgment and destructive decisions. He destroyed ancient oak trees on a nature preserve to obtain a better view from his home which earned him the moniker of "Chainsaw" and resulted in a felony charge that he pled down to a misdemeanor. Additionally, he received a public reprimand from the Commission on Judicial Performance. He then became personally embroiled in the divorce case of Ulf Carlsson, and went far out of his way to destroy Mr. Carlsson by ensuring he was fired from his job. Judge McBrien committed numerous ethical violations along the way and earned another reprimand. Battered mothers report that he consistently places children with substantiated molesters, batterers, violent alcoholics, and drug addicts. Now, Judge McBrien failed to protect a toddler, who was then murdered.

After a statewide AMBER Alert, two-year-old Madeline Layla Samaan-Fay was found near Placerville, CA in her father's vehicle. She and her father Mourad Samaan were both dead.

Samaan had a pattern of not returning his daughter Madeline from visits and had told her mother that he was taking the child to Oregon against the court order. Prior to the toddler's death, Judge McBrien had refused to grant an ex parte request by Madeline's mother to order law enforcement to locate the father and child, and to place Samaan on supervised visits. Judge McBrien had a perfect opportunity to prevent this tragedy, but refused to assist the mother Marcia Fay, a California Deputy Attorney General, in locating and protecting her child.

California judges have a pattern of not believing women and children, and are trained to minimize concerns of mothers, according to Judge DeAnn Salcide (Ret), founder of Judicial Action Watch Society. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Judicial-Action-Watch-Society/219653241395520

The United States has a pattern of not protecting women and children. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has sharply rebuked the United States for failing to protect women and children in the Gonzalez v. United States decision in August 2011, stating that the U.S. practices discrimination and violation of the right to equality.
http://www.cidh.oas.org/Comunicados/English/2011/92-11eng.htm

We can begin changing these destructive patterns by demanding that Judge McBrien be removed from family court and from any position that gives him authority over vulnerable children.

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