From: John Murtari (jmurtari@akidsright.org)
Date: Wed Oct 18 2006 - 16:30:14 EDT
Good People & People of Faith, >From Teri Stoddard - I spoke with John this morning and he asked me to forward the following information to you. Mr. Keller appeared in front of Judge Hedges this morning asking for a reduced sentence. It seemed as though Hedges was leaning towards letting John go free, until the other attorney strongly objected. In the end, Hedges said he's withholding his final judgement until October 24 at 9 am when everyone will meet again, including John. Hedges said, "I'd really like to see this negotiated." He wants both sides to come to a settlement. John would like your input. What would be a fair offer? Here are some facts to consider: John wants to get out to see Domenic right away, but he only has 40 days left to serve. He wants everyone to remember the reason he's doing this act of non-cooperation is because he does not agree that he owes the $60,000 in child support. His child support was calculated using imputed income. And in order to stay in his son's life after the courts allowed Dom's mother to move him across the country, he's spent more on airfare than what they say he owes in support. He does not want to take any settlement that does not respect his principles. John wants the support and arrears recalulated using his true income and he wants his travel expenses counted. John has a business idea that could result in an increase in his income. In order to get out of jail now, he could offer to pay $40-60,000 by September of next year if his income does go up. He would do this out of generosity, not because he agrees that he owes this in child support. He's concerned this will look like he's going against his principles. It's on record that Domenic said he wants to live with John. John could ask that he get custody of Domenic immediately, and he'd raise him without any child support from Dom's mother. They could use the forfeited child support amount to reduce his "bill" each month. John could offer to withdraw the appeal, which would save Dom's mother attorney fees. Mr. Keller filed a well-written 50-page brief when he asked for the stay. It was denied. Keller feels continuing with the appeal could be fruitless and expensive. They don't have a good record, the venue issue was shut down, and they don't have enough money donated to follow through. He's suggested to John to consider withdrawing the appeal. John still owes Mr. Keller thousands of dollars, but he wants me to let you know that if they withdraw the appeal, anyone who has donated money towards the legal fees could contact me to get a confidential refund. Please send your thoughts to me as soon as possible, as John will be meeting with Keller again on Friday. Do not reply to this newsletter, send your comments to teri@sharedparentingworks.org. -- John Murtari ____________________________________________________________________ Coordinator AKidsRight.Org jmurtari@AKidsRight.Org "A Kid's Right to BOTH parents" Toll Free (877) 635-1968(x-211) http://www.AKidsRight.Org/ ======================================= Newsletter mailing list Newsletter@kids-right.org subscribe/unsubscribe info below: http://kids-right.org/mailman/listinfo/newsletter
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