Thicker Than Water - 29. Chapter 29

Diego was nervous. He didn't like going to court, not even for good reasons. His brothers, especially Luis, were in and out of the system a lot, and his mother always made him go to show that she had at least one good child. Though they turned their lives around, he blamed his brothers for his anxiety before judges.

Billy said that the hearing shouldn't take long. His goal was to get the petition dismissed due to lack of grounds, since Calvin had his rights stripped by the court, which would only work in their favor. Diego still felt that something was off. Any lawyer worth their salt should've told Calvin that he had no case, but one lawyer—no, a firm—thinks that Calvin could win. What didn't he know?

Steve got the boys up and made them breakfast, so Diego could have some time to settle his nerves. Diego liked how natural Steve was as a parent. None of his exes would've been so patient and caring.

“Are we going to school after court?” Caleb asked before taking a bite of his pancakes.

“I think that depends on when the hearing is over,” Steve said, serving Bryan who hasn't said a word. “Your dad has to work, but I took the day off.”

“Won't you get in trouble?”

“Nah. I explained the situation, and my new boss was very understanding. Instead of worrying about me, though, how about focusing on your food, so you can get dressed before we leave. I don't think it would look good if you show up to court wearing your Ninja Turtle pee jays.”

Steve joined his soon-to-be stepsons, knowing Diego was too nervous to eat.

*  *  *

“Glad you all could make it,” Billy said, shaking everyone's hands, including the boys'. “And you're all wearing suits, I see. That'll go the extra mile for sure.”

“I don't see how,” Caleb mumbled, messing with his tie.

“We need the judge to see that you're happy, healthy and well taken care of. Neglected kids don't wear suits.” Billy knelt in front of Caleb and helped loosen the boy's tie. “Unfortunately, you'll need to keep that on until we're done. If we're lucky, you won't have to wear that again.”

Billy stood and said, “We've got a few minutes before we're called. You won't need to testify, and I definitely don't want you talking to Calvin. It doesn't matter if he says something to you. You ignore him to the best of your ability.”

“True, but that doesn't mean he won't try, especially with his lawyer around. Restraining orders aren't easy to enforce, and he might try to take advantage of that. Either way, I need you to look forward at all times. Watch me or the judge, and don't look at Calvin or his lawyer, even if he mentions you. Got it?”

“Got it,” everyone said.

Billy escorted the Padillas into the courtroom and quietly told them where to sit, as court was in session.

Bryan looked around despite Billy's instructions. It didn't take him long to notice Calvin and his girlfriend talking to an older man in a suit. He was under the impression that Dan's dad was Calvin's lawyer. The man talking to his biological father was much older and looked mean. Bryan wondered if the man was capable of smiling.

“Hey,” Billy said, softly, tapping Bryan's shoulder. “What did I say? You can't look at him.”

“Sorry,” Bryan said, annoyed. He didn't see how looking at Calvin would change anything.

Three cases were heard before the court clerk called out, “The Matter of Bryan Padilla and Caleb Padilla.”

Billy motioned for his clients to move and sit in the first row, specifically placing Bryan and Caleb first, so Steve and Diego could act as human shields. Once seated, Billy moved to the table and chairs before them. He placed down his briefcase and waited for the judge to start the hearing.

“As I understand it,” the judge said, reviewing the paperwork before him, “Mr. Calvin Johnson is seeking to reinstate his parental rights and obtain sole custody of the minors Bryan Padilla, age 14, and Caleb Padilla, age 11. Is that correct, Mr. Clarke?”

“Yes, your honor.”

“According to documents filed in the response, this Court terminated the rights of Mr. Johnson under the cause of abandonment about nine years ago. The record shows several attempted by this Court to contact Mr. Johnson without success. Failing to contact Mr. Johnson, custody was awarded to his mother, Mrs. Samantha Johnson. Custody was then given to Mr. Diego Padilla prior to Mrs. Johnson's diagnosis of terminal cancer. Since then, there had been no contact between Mr. Johnson and the minors of record until the death of the biological mother, Mrs. Donna Johnson. Is that correct, Mr. Parker?”

“Yes, your honor,” Billy said.

“Now that we're up to speed, the purpose of this hearing is to establish whether or not Mr. Johnson: 1) Has a legitimate claim to reestablish his parental rights, 2) Has a legitimate claim of custody of the minors of record, and 3) whether or not the Court erred in terminating Mr. Johnson's parental rights and custody of the minors of record. Is this correct, Counsel?”

“Yes, your honor,” both lawyers replied.

“Mr. Clarke, the burden of proof is on you and your client. You need to present new evidence that wasn't available at the time of the previous hearings and show that the Court made an error in its findings and conclusions. Are you prepared to do that today?”

“I am, Your Honor.”

“Mr. Parker, are you prepared to refute Mr. Johnson's claims?”

“I am, Your Honor.”

“Very well, Mr. Clarke, you may proceed.”

“Thank you, Your Honor,” Mr. Clarke said, as he removed a file folder from his briefcase. “Your Honor, Petitioner would like to admit Exhibit P-1 for the record, which is a copy of text conversations between my client, Mr. Johnson, and his late mother in which they discuss him taking his children back from her.”

“Objection, Your Honor. This is hearsay. Mrs. Johnson is long passed and cannot testify to the validity of the statements in the text.”

“Your Honor,” Mr. Clarke said, “My team used computer forensics to verify the authenticity of the texts.”

"Your Honor,” Billy said, shocked, “This is still hearsay. Text messages can be altered, time stamps can be manipulated, etc. Mr. Clarke's team doesn't count as an independent authority here, and there's still the matter of Mrs. Johnson not being able to testify, since there could've been phone calls in relation to the texts or further context only she could provide.”

The judge paused for a beat and said, “As a matter of legal precedent, Mr. Parker, hearsay can be admitted in some circumstances. In this case, Mrs. Johnson wouldn't need to verify the texts, so long as the evidence can prove they came from phones belonging to both Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, and that dates and times have been authenticated, but Mr. Clarke you would be limited to evidence based solely on the text themselves and not any testimony or evidence that calls for speculation. Do you understand?”

“I understand and thank you, Your Honor,” Mr. Clarke said, smugly.

“I didn't overrule the objection, Counsel. The objection is on hold until the messages can be properly authenticated by an independent source. Until that is done, however, Petitioner's Exhibit P-1 will be admitted into record on face value. Should these be proven false, Mr. Parker's objection will be sustained and the exhibit will be deemed inadmissible along with any further evidence solely based on it, including testimony. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” both lawyers said, neither pleased. Mr. Clarke handed Billy his copy of the exhibit, while he gave two copies to the Court Clerk, with one going to the judge.

“Mr. Clarke, what other evidence do you have to support your claim?”

“We would like to submit Petitioner's Exhibit P-2. We have text messages between the Petitioner and the Respondent over the course of the last nine years. In the body of the texts, my client had reached out to Mr. Padilla and repeatedly sought communication and visitation with the minors of record, with such contact being denied every time. These communications date back to just after my client left for Pennsylvania for work, thus establishing his attempts at maintaining his parental rights, which were being denied to him by the Respondent.”

Diego's blood ran cold. Steve must have sensed it, as he took Diego's hand in his.

“Objection, Your Honor,” Billy said. “My client had already testified to this on record at the time of the custody hearings for Mrs. Johnson and during the adoption proceedings after. My client has never denied that Mr. Johnson tried to contact his sons but would only do so at the most inconvenient times, usually in the middle of the night when they were asleep or at school. The court found that my client was well with in his right to deny the requests based on the welfare of the children at the time, and that Mr. Johnson was out of line for making such demands.”

“Your Honor, what the record doesn't reflect are the over 220 times that Mr. Johnson called and/or sent texts during times his children would've been home from school, before bedtime and on the weekends. Every time, Mr. Padilla either ignored my client's attempts or flat-out denied contact, which falls under custodial interference.”

Again, the judge paused and considered the situation before him. “Mr. Parker, your objection is on pause until the validity of the correspondences can be independently verified. And like with the Petitioner's previous exhibit, the Court will enter this exhibit on face value until such a time it can be verified. Should the findings be proven false, this exhibit will be removed and any evidence solely based on these documents will be deemed inadmissible.”

“Thank you, Your Honor.”

“This still leaves the many times the court attempted to contact Mr. Johnson to which Mr. Johnson failed to reply. Can you satisfy this, Mr. Clarke?”

“We can, Your Honor. My client had moved addresses several times and his mail was not forward or kept for him. It wasn't until he contacted his mother, Mrs. Johnson, that he learned of the judgment against him.”

“Objection, Your Honor. First of all, because Mr. Johnson moved, it becomes his responsibility to notify the Court of his whereabouts. Second, we have hearsay again, since Mrs. Johnson cannot testify to what was and wasn't said between herself and her son. Third, let's assume that Mrs. Johnson did have contact with her son, we'd have to also speculate that she would've told him of the custody hearing, would've also known where he was and would've reported it to the Court, which is all speculation, making all of this admissible. And Fourth, the Court met its burden in its attempts to contact Mr. Johnson, which has already been certified by several sheriff's deputies in Pennsylvania. Unless Mr. Clarke wants to impeach the characters of an entire police force, the Petitioner has not met the requirements of this burden.”

Billy's argument, though desperate, caused everyone to pause and take in what was said. The boys were too confused to figure any of it out, and Bryan started to feel a headache coming on.

“Mr. Clarke, do you have anything to say on this matter?”

“Not at this time, Your Honor.”

“Then the objection is sustained,” the judge said, while thumbing through the documents before him. After a minute or two, asked, “Mr. Clarke does the Petitioner have any further evidence to submit to support its motion?”

“No, Your Honor.”

“Respondent moves for Summary Judgment, Your Honor,” Billy said. “The Petitioner has not satisfied its burden, especially on the third burden. It's the Respondent's stance that, even if my client and Mrs. Johnson somehow kept Mr. Johnson from seeing the minors of record, he still abandoned them, failed to provide a date for his return, failed to request their return to him, and failed to show up to this very Court when his rights were being terminated. Not to mention, he's had nine years prior to have this matter taken care of, and waited for the death of his ex-wife to do so.”

“Your Honor,” Mr. Clarke said, “We still our exhibits on record showing that my client was being denied his ability to maintain a relationship with is children, which is the only requirement to maintain custody. Had Mr. Padilla allowed the visitation to continue, Mrs. Johnson wouldn't have had ground to have custody, which lead to Mr. Padilla adopting my client's children.”

Once again, the judge paused. If the documents were authentic, there wouldn't have been grounds for a custody hearing at all. Then again, Mr. Johnson had every opportunity to present them during the original hearing. The judge believed the deputies attempted and failed to contact Mr. Johnson, but they wouldn't have to if Mr. Johnson was still actively contacting his children, maintaining that relationship, even if it was long distance.

“Given the evidence provided by the Petitioner, the Court finds enough ground to revisit this case.” Calvin and Amanda started to get excited, but the judge cut them off with his gavel. “However, the Petitioner's case is on very shaky grounds, Mr. Clarke. Should those documents prove to be false, your client will lose his case and claim.”

“I understand, Your Honor, thank you.”

“I object, Your Honor. It is still the Respondent's stance that the Petitioner's burden was not met. His exhibits are nothing but hearsay and speculation, and they failed to meet the strongest burden of the three.”

“Your objection is noted and overruled, Counsel. The Court is sticking to its findings as of this moment. Mr. Clarke, the Court is ordering you and your client to submit all the original documents and sources, including but not limited to any and all electronic devices from which your exhibits were created.”

“Your Honor,” Billy interrupted, “the Respondent would also like to add a warrant to the service providers for any records they may have on this matter. Given the revelations by Edward Snowden, we can assume the service providers have access to these records, as well.”

“Your request is granted, Mr. Parker,” the Judge said. Billy gave a small glance at the table next to him and was pleased that his request caused a small amount of anxiety.

The judge continued, “As a matter of record, I will be leaving the bench at the end of next week to take up a post for the Governor. With that said, another judge will be presiding over this case. At this moment, no judge has been assigned to Family Court, so the Court Clerk will reach out to both counsel to arrange the scheduling of the next hearing.”

“That's fine, Your Honor,” both lawyers said.

With that, the judge called for the next case. Billy had the Padillas wait until Calvin, Amanda and his lawyer left the court room. Once out of the court room, Billy spun on Diego and demanded, “Is anything about what Calvin claims is true? Any of it?”

Diego paused. “Yes,” he finally said. “Calvin did try to contact the boys more than just at night or while they were in school, and yes, I ignored him most of the time or just said no. I was pissed--”

“--I don't care why you did it,” Billy said, bitterly. “You lied to me, and I was caught off guard. I asked you to tell me everything and you withheld that. You better hope that he doctored some of those messages, because you're fucked if they're all real. I'll have Charlie contact you when we have another court date.” Without another word, Billy stormed off.